One of the central figures in the sex abuse allegations against X-Men director Bryan Singer was Marc Collins-Rector, a registered sex offender and one-time Hollywood power player whose mansion was the site of alleged rapes. Collins-Rector hadn't been seen publicly since 2007, but his whereabouts were revealed today by Buzzfeed.

Collins-Rector's story is a long and twisted one that criss-crosses continents and includes a number of accomplices and start-up ventures. He became known in Hollywood as the co-founder of a proto-YouTube company called Digital Entertainment Network, which counted both Singer and entertainment magnate David Geffen as investors.

But DEN began to collapse just as Collins-Rector and two business partners fled to Spain—supposedly because Collins-Rector feared that Geffen was trying to have him killed. In 2002, while he was still in Spain, Collins-Rector was charged with a number of sex crimes in New Jersey and California—namely bringing a minor across state lines for sex—and found guilty. He served two years in prison in Spain—where he claims he was tortured—before briefly returning to America.

After a period of good behavior—hitting all his parole check-ins—Collins-Rector flew to Europe to have an operation, and never returned, violating his probation agreement. His whereabouts were mostly unknown until Buzzfeed tracked him down in Antwerp. He does not seem to be living an enjoyable life.

Collins-Rector now lives alone in a top-floor apartment in a neighborhood near the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in the south of Antwerp. In late May, a BuzzFeed reporter knocked on his door. Slow, struggling footsteps approached from the other side, accompanied by the thud of a cane striking the floor. Finally, Collins-Rector opened the door, bearded and smiling, and said, in Flemish, "Yes?" Upon learning the reporter's identity, he slammed the door and refused to answer again. He also did not respond to phone calls, emails, and letters slipped under his door and sent by courier to his address.

BuzzFeed learned from another person living in the same building that Collins-Rector often spends entire nights coughing and almost never leaves home.

Geffen, for what its worth, denies any accusation that he intended to have Collins-Rector injured, and Collins-Rector associates from that time believe that theory to be bullshit. Singer has maintained that he never sexually abused his accuser Michael Egan at Collins-Rector's home.

[image via Kickstarter]