Bill Cosby has now faced accusations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment from over 60 women
Nine more women have stepped forward, making allegations of sexual assault against Bill Cosby, an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television producer. These women accuse Cosby of exploiting his influential position and celebrity status to perpetrate acts of victimization against them.
The lawsuit, which has been filed in a federal court in Nevada,
asserts that each of these women was subjected to drugging and assault by
Cosby during the time span from 1979 to 1992. These incidents allegedly
occurred in different places, including Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe.
One
woman alleges that Cosby, posing as her acting mentor, enticed her from New
York to Nevada, where he drugged her with what he claimed was non-alcoholic
sparkling cider and then raped her.
Bill Cosby, the 85-year-old former star of "The Cosby Show,"
has now faced accusations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment
from over 60 women. Despite consistently denying all allegations related to
sex crimes, he became the first celebrity to be tried and convicted during
the #MeToo era.
However, his conviction was overturned by a
higher court in 2021 after spending nearly three years in state prison near
Philadelphia.
Last year, a jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who
stated that Cosby sexually abused her in 1975 at the Playboy Mansion when
she was 16.
The recent lawsuit in Nevada follows the elimination of a
two-year deadline for adults to file sexual abuse cases, which was signed
into law by Governor Joe Lombardo. Similar lawsuits have emerged in other
states that have implemented similar legislation, reports Los Angeles
Times.
One of the plaintiffs, Lise-Lotte Lublin, a native of
Nevada, had advocated for the legal change. Previously, she had alleged that
Cosby drugged her and raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in 1989. With the new
law in place, she now has the opportunity to pursue legal action against
Cosby and seek justice.
In California, a former Playboy model
filed a lawsuit on June 1, claiming that Cosby drugged and sexually
assaulted her and another woman at his home in 1969, utilizing a new law in
the state that suspends the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.
Cosby's
publicist, Andrew Wyatt, criticized such laws, stating that they allow civil
suits to overwhelm the court system, and accused the women of seeking
attention and financial gain rather than fighting for genuine victims. Wyatt
emphasized that moving forward, they would scrutinize these allegations in
the court of public opinion and within the legal system.
The
latest lawsuit alleges that Cosby exploited his immense power, fame, and
influence, feigning interest in helping the women with their careers as a
pretext to isolate and sexually assault them.
