Robert Kovaà ÂÃÂk, (born 11 August 1969) known professionally as Robert Van Damme, is a Czech-French gay pornographic film actor, director, and producer, and former ice hockey player. After making his pornography debut in 2003, he became an exclusive model with Hot House Entertainment in 2005 and founded his own gay pornography studio, RVD Films, in 2009. In 2014, Kovaà ÂÃÂk was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Czech court for a series of armed robberies committed between 1999 and 2000.
Kovaà ÂÃÂk was born in Czechoslovakia. In the 1990s, he was an ice hockey player for LHK Jestà Âábi ProstÃÂjov, and later played for .
Kovaà ÂÃÂk was charged by Czech authorities with leading a group that committed two armed robberies in ProstÃÂjov in 1999 and 2000. He remained in police custody for two years, the maximum length under Czech law a suspect can be detained without guilt being proven, before being released. In 2003 he departed the Czech Republic for the United States, and was subsequently sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison for robbery and theft of amounts exceeding 5 million KÃÂ. Kovaà ÂÃÂk has contended that he was a participant in a motor vehicle theft ring, but has denied any role in leading robberies.
While living in California, Kovaà ÂÃÂk was scouted by the American gay pornography studio Blue Blake Productions, and made his debut as a gay pornographic actor under the stage name "Robert Van Damme" in 2003. Van Damme gained popularity as a gay-for-pay "power top" performer, making his feature-length debut in the Mustang Studios film The Hunted in 2005 and signing an exclusive contract with Hot House Entertainment that same year.
A Czech court issued an arrest warrant for Kovaà ÂÃÂk in 2006. In February 2009, Kovaà ÂÃÂk co-founded with his then-wife the gay pornography studio RVD Films. It released its first film, Robert Van Damme's Private Party, in March of that year; the film was also Kovaà ÂÃÂk's directorial debut. That same year, he was inducted into the Grabby Awards Hall of Fame and won Best New Director at the Hard Choice Awards. In 2010, RVD Films began distributing its films through the video on demand website GayMovies.com.
On 21 May 2010, Kovaà ÂÃÂk was arrested in Los Angeles and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His deportation was authorized by the U.S. State Department in March 2013, and he was extradited to the Czech Republic in May that year. His retrial began in September 2013 at the Regional Court of Brno and concluded in March 2014, with a court panel sentencing him to nine years in prison.