Bill Cosby Sues 7 Accusers For Emotional Distress And Character Assassination


Bill Cosby is seeking financial compensation from seven of his accusers, as well as public withdrawals of their accusations that the veteran comic drugged and sexually assaulted them.

Cosby has countersued seven of his accusers, claiming that their accusations of rape have left him emotionally distressed and financially strapped, caused damage to his career and property, and left him “mortified,” his lawyer, Monique Pressley, said Monday, USA Today reported.

Bill Cosby and his lawyer call the accusations “malicious, opportunistic, and false and defamatory” and an attempt to ruin his reputation and make money.

The seven accusers Bill Cosby has countersued are Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis, and Angela Leslie. Traitz, Serignese, and Green joined forces a year ago in a defamation suit against Cosby, the Huffington Post recounted. Bowman, Tarshis, Moritz, and Leslie joined last month.

All of these women are known accusers, each of whom came forward in one way or another to accuse the actor of drugging and sexually assaulting them. Their allegations date to the 1960s, and they are only seven of up to 60 alleged victims.

A federal judge in Massachusetts recently rejected an attempt by Cosby’s defense to throw out the suit, and his countersuit was filed afterward.

These seven accusers represent the largest of the half a dozen civil lawsuits now underway against Bill Cosby in federal court in Massachusetts, where he now lives, and all have been filed in recent months. Model Janice Dickinson has also sued him.

In a statement about the countersuit, Bill Cosby’s attorney once again vehemently denies the accusations of sexual misconduct lodged against her client by dozens of women.

“Mr. Cosby states plainly that he neither drugged nor sexually assaulted the defendants and that each defendant has maliciously and knowingly published multiple false statements and accusations from Fall 2014 through the current day in an effort to cause damage to Mr. Cosby’s reputation and to extract financial gains.”

Bill Cosby is seeking “relief” from the court, compensatory and punitive damages, and for the accusers to publicly “correct” the statements they’ve made about him in public.

So far, up to 60 women have accused Billy Cosby of drugging and/or sexually assaulting them; the allegations date back decades and some of them are too old to pursue criminally. The comic has denied all of the accusations, and no charges have been filed. However, he’d previously testified under oath to buying Quaaludes with the intent to give them to women he wanted to have sex with.

And the contents of an October deposition, in which Bill Cosby testified in a California civil case filed by another victim, Judy Huth, will be made public by at least by December 22. She’s accused Bill Cosby of forcing her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 in the 1970s.

Billy Cosby’s lawsuit comes as another group has eagerly distanced itself from the disgraced comedian. Adding to scores of other revoked honorary degrees, Boston University has joined the chorus in stripping the comic of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, which he received in 2014, Time reported.

“The Board’s decision was based on a determination, supported by Mr. Cosby’s sworn deposition testimony, that his treatment of women has brought significant and lasting discredit upon himself and is inconsistent with the University’s mission and values. Mr. Cosby’s admitted conduct, which the University learned about only after awarding him the degree, demonstrates that his character fails to reflect the integrity and virtues that the University values and esteems in members of its community, and in those persons the University holds up for this particular honor,” said Boston University president Robert A. Brown in a statement.

[Photo by Matt Rourke/Associated Press]

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