Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
Bill Cosby is facing legal trouble once again as nine women in Nevada have come forward to sue him for alleged sexual assault taking place decades ago.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday (June 14th)in a Nevada federal court against the comedian, claiming that he “used his enormous power, fame, and prestige, and claimed interest in helping them and/or their careers as a pretense to isolate and sexually assault them.” The suit alleges that the women were individually drugged and then assaulted by Cosby between 1979 and 1992 in dressing rooms and hotels in Reno, Las Vegas, and Lake Tahoe.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the plaintiffs in the case are Lise Lotte-Lublin, Lili Bernard, Janice Baker-Kinney, Rebecca Cooper, Janice Dickinson, Linda Kirkpatrick, Angela Leslie, Pam Joy Abeyta, and Heidi Thomas. “For years I have fought for survivors of sexual assault and today is the first time I will be able to fight for myself,” Lotte-Lublin said in a statement released to the press. “With the new law change, I now have the ability to take my assailant Bill Cosby to court. My journey has just begun, but I am grateful for this opportunity to find justice.”
The lawsuit was filed just weeks after Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed a bill into law that removed a two-year deadline for adults 18 and older to file sexual abuse cases. Some of the women named in the Nevada suit, such as Bernard and Dickinson, have previously pursued legal action against Cosby in other states. This new legal action comes after he was sued by former Playboy model Victoria Valentino for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting her in Los Angeles in 1969. Last year, a California jury found Cosby guilty of sexually assaulting Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion when she was 16 in 1975 at the Playboy Mansion. Ms. Huth was awarded $500,000 in damages.
Andrew Wyatt, the publicist for the 85-year-old comedian, blasted the suit as he claimed the women’s motivation was “their addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed” in a statement. “From this day forward, we will not continue to allow these women to parade various accounts of an alleged allegation against Mr. Cosby anymore without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom,” he said.
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