Bill Cosby sued for sexual assault by nine women in Nevada

5:49 pm Thursday, June 15th, 2023

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – Nine women have filed a lawsuit in Nevada accusing comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault, the latest in a long series of misconduct allegations against the once-beloved entertainer.

The alleged assaults took place between 1979 and 1992 in various locations in Nevada, including in Cosby’s backstage dressing room and his Las Vegas hotel suite, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday in federal court in Nevada.

The complaint arrived just weeks after the state enacted a “lookback” law eliminating a two-year window for sexual assault victims to bring civil claims, following the lead of several other states.

More than 60 women have leveled accusations stretching back decades against Cosby, who was once known as “America’s Dad” for his role in the 1980s television comedy “The Cosby Show.”

Now 85, Cosby was the first celebrity to be convicted in the #MeToo era, when a Pennsylvania jury found him guilty in 2018 of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, an employee at his alma mater Temple University in Philadelphia, in 2004.

He spent three years in a Pennsylvania prison before the state’s Supreme Court threw out his case in 2021, ruling that he should not have faced charges after striking a non-prosecution deal with a previous district attorney years earlier.

In a statement, Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, criticized “lookback” laws and said his accusers “are not fighting for victims – but for their addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed.”

The Nevada lawsuit accuses Cosby of drugging each victim with drinks or pills before assaulting them, a pattern that matches allegations from other women, including Constand.

Cosby faces other legal claims as well. A former Playboy model sued him this month, alleging he assaulted her in 1969. The plaintiff is taking advantage of a California law that lifted the statute of limitations on such claims.

Lili Bernard, one of the plaintiffs in Nevada, has separately sued Cosby in New Jersey for an alleged assault in 1990 under a similar law.

Last year, a California jury found that Cosby sexually assaulted teenager Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 and ordered him to pay her $500,000.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Jonathan Oatis)