More than 60 women have accused the entertainer of sexual assault in recent years. Now a former “Playboy” model speaks up – and raises serious allegations against Cosby.
Two years after Bill Cosby’s release from prison, another woman is bringing her sexual abuse allegations against the US comedian to court. 80-year-old Victoria Valentino filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles on Thursday (local time), US media reported. The former “Playboy” model describes an alleged assault by Cosby in 1969.
Cosby gave her and a friend pills when they went to a restaurant and drugged them. The entertainer – now 85 years old – then drove the women to his office, where he raped them, Valentino claims. A new California law allows for sexual abuse lawsuits to be filed without a statute of limitations. The woman is demanding compensation in an undisclosed amount.
Valentino’s allegations contained no facts or evidence, Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt told US broadcaster CNN. There are also contradictions in the numerous claims made by the woman. Valentino first made allegations against the former sitcom superstar (“The Bill Cosby Show”) in interviews in 2014.
More than 60 women have accused Cosby of various kinds of sexual assault in the past few years. The entertainer always rejected the allegations.
Court overturned Cosby’s conviction
The comedian was sentenced in 2018 to at least three and a maximum of ten years in prison for sexual assault in a criminal case. The case involved a single case from 2004. The jury found it proven that Cosby had rendered a woman helpless with pills and then sexually assaulted her.
After Cosby spent around three years in prison, the highest court in the US state of Pennsylvania surprisingly overturned his conviction in June 2021 due to a procedural error and the actor was released.
Cosby, once considered America’s poster child, continued to face civil lawsuits thereafter. In June last year, a Los Angeles jury found him guilty of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in 1975 and awarded the plaintiff $500,000. The attack took place in the home of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, known as the “Playboy Mansion”.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
