The city of Seattle says it has settled a defamation lawsuit with Jeff Simpson, one of five men who accused the former mayor of sexual abuse when they were children.

Simpson, 51, filed his lawsuit in May of this year, nearly two months after Delvonn Heckard, another of Ed Murray's accusers, died of an overdose in an Auburn motel.

Murray resigned as mayor in September 2017 after a fifth man, his cousin, accused Murray publicly of sexual abuse. That resignation came six months after Heckard filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Murray.

Simpson, a former foster son of Murray's, accused the city and Murray of using Murray's public office to slander Simpson.

Simpson's lawsuit focused on several events in which the mayor appeared, or furnished a spokesperson, to defend himself against the claims: press conferences or interviews in which Murray argued that the accusations were part of a right-wing or homophobic agenda, an op-ed in The Stranger written by the mayor, in which he argued Simpson could not be trusted because of his criminal record, as well as another press conference in which Murray stood at a publicly owned podium to announce his "vindication" when Heckard dropped his lawsuit.