Bill Cosby is facing new allegations of sexual assault. On Wednesday, in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court of Nevada, Southern Division, nine women said the comedian drugged, assaulted and raped them in incidents that occurred between 1979 and 1992.
The women – Lise Lotte-Lublinsky, Lily Bernard, Janice Baker-Kinney, Rebecca Cooper, Linda Kirkpatrick, Janice Dickenson, Angela Leslie, Pam Joy Abeta and Heidi Thomas – say they were all “sexually harassed, assaulted and abused”. Cosby “in a similar manner” to a Las Vegas hotel that Cosby frequently stayed at.
NBC will air an exclusive interview with the women on Thursday.
Each woman says Cosby approached them with offers to help their careers, using “his enormous power, fame and reputation, and claimed interest” to “isolate and sexually harass” them. contacted.
The trial then breaks down the individual allegations, each following a familiar pattern of being lured to a secluded location, coerced into taking drugs, and then raped. The suit states, “Cosby sexually penetrated or otherwise sexually assaulted her against her will while Cosby knew she was mentally and physically unable to resist or consent.”
The women say that they “sustained in the past and will continue to suffer psychological injury, pain and suffering, severe and severe psychological and emotional distress, mental agony, embarrassment and humiliation,” and that they are entitled to medical expenses and economic costs. faced problems as a result of their experiences.
And the plaintiffs are requesting a jury trial, and compensatory damages for “pain, suffering, injury, emotional distress and past and future medical expenses,” coverage of pre- and post-judgment interest, punitive damages, and legal fees. Seeking damages. determined by a jury.
In a statement to TheWrap, Cosby’s spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, said, “It is interesting that these ‘look back windows’ are only being created in the states (New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles and Nevada) where Mr. Cosby’s many alleged accusers live on. It begs the question for all Americans, ‘Who is funding these alleged accusers and who is funding these lawmakers?’
“Mr. Cosby is a citizen of these United States of America, but these judges and lawmakers are continuing to allow these civil suits to fill their dockets—knowing that these women are not fighting for victims—but overwhelming For their addiction to media attention and greed. From this day forward, we will not allow these women to parade their various accounts of an alleged allegation against Mr. Cosby in the court of public opinion and inside the courtroom. Thank you ,” the statement concluded.
This is only the latest in a long list of dozens of women who have accused Cosby of rape. Most recently in June, 2022 he was ordered to pay $500,000 to a woman who says he raped her at the Playboy Mansion in the early 1970s, when she was 16.
He was previously convicted in a criminal court of sexual assault in 2018 and spent several years in jail before being paroled in 2021 on what critics said were flimsy grounds. He has consistently denied the allegations.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.