Brand is now also being investigated over further rape allegations made by two women, police have now said.
Details in legal documents from a hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court before Brand’s criminal trial began suggest that one of the women was 16 years old at the time and featured in a Channel 4 documentary.
Brand was accused by four women of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse in a joint Channel 4 Dispatches, Times and Sunday Times investigation in September 2023.
The actor and comedian denied the allegations.
None of the women who featured in the media investigation were the complainants from Brand’s criminal trial.
On Thursday it emerged that Brand was facing further rape allegations made by two women. The Metropolitan police said he had previously been interviewed under caution in relation to them.
During a pre-trial hearing in October Brand tried unsuccessfully to have his criminal case thrown out.
His lawyers argued that the actor and entertainer couldn’t receive a fair trial because of the publicity following the Dispatches programme.
Prosecutors opposed Brand’s application to have his case stopped.
It was during that hearing that the prosecution said one of the complaints made in the documentary was being investigated.
Riel Karmy-Jones KC said: “Of the four women in the Ch4 documentary, two concern events outside the jurisdiction.
“One did not disclose any offence. The other is being investigated.
“There had been some interaction in 2018, she did not report the matter until 2024, after the documentary was aired.”
In documents submitted to the court for the hearing prosecutors also said it was “plainly incorrect” to say there had been a decision not to investigate.
“The outstanding charges against RB in respect of ‘Alice’ from Dispatches demonstrate that there has been no such decision – rather that the police will and have responded appropriately once a formal allegation is made.”
The head of the Metropolitan Police has said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if more people came forward to make allegations about Russell Brand.
Sir Mark Rowley also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday that what he heard reported from Brand’s trial at Southwark Crown Court came very close to “victim blaming”.