Bill Cosby Faces New Lawsuit Accusing Him of 1969 Rape
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Bill Cosby faces yet another sexual assault lawsuit, this time from a woman who accuses the disgraced comedian of drugging and raping her in 1969.
Victoria Valentino, a former Playboy centerfold, filed the lawsuit Thursday in a Los Angeles County Superior Court under the one-year window allowing alleged victims of sexual assaults to pursue civil action against their attacker.
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The lawsuit — the first legal action against Cosby in the state of California — alleges that, upon meeting Cosby at a Los Angeles restaurant in 1969, the comedian gave the visibly grieving Valentino (her six-year-old son had recently died by drowning) a pill to “make you feel better,” Valentino says Cosby told her.
According to the lawsuit, Cosby first paid for Valentino and a friend to take a steam bath at a spa before inviting the two women to dinner at a steakhouse, where he offered the women the pills. Cosby then allegedly drove the women to his office, where they both passed out. Valentino claims she then awoke to Cosby approaching her friend, and after attempting to protect her friend, Cosby instead allegedly raped Valentino.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Valentino said that E. Jean Carroll’s recent legal victory over Donald Trump helped inspire her to pursue a lawsuit against Cosby despite the half-century that has passed since the alleged incident. “Her winning her case was affirmation we were doing the right thing,” the 80-year-old Valentino said. “It’s not about money, it’s about accountability. Rape steals something from you that cannot be repaired or restored.”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Cosby’s lawyer Andrew Wyatt said, “Victoria Valentino has skirted from town to town promoting her alleged allegations against Mr. Cosby to anyone that would give her platform, without any proof or facts. It’s unfortunate that media has not vetted the inconsistencies in her many statements.”
Wyatt also decried the “look back windows” that circumvent the statute of limitations on crimes. “Unfortunately, these ‘Look Back Windows’ are brought to life because our political figures are being driven by click-baiters, likes and followers, in order to excel to their political aspirations,” Wyatt added. “What graveyard can Mr. Cosby visit, in order to dig up potential witnesses to testify on his behalf? America is continuing to see that this a formula to make sure that no more Black Men in America accumulate the American Dream that was secured by Mr. Cosby.”
Cosby has faced several civil suits and one criminal case tied to the various allegations of sexual abuse against him. In Dec. 2022, five women sued Cosby in New York, accusing him of groping, raping, and drugging them in separate instances as far back as 1969, as well as during the Eighties and Nineties.
Cosby was initially convicted of sexual assault in 2018, but after an appeals process, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided to overturn the conviction and release Cosby from jail. The trial was specifically regarding allegations made by Andrea Constand, as the PA Supreme Court ruled that testimony from five other women who claimed Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted them tainted the trial. The judges also said Cosby’s agreement with a previous prosecutor should have prevented him from being charged in the Constand case. In March, the United States Supreme Court turned down an appeal of the decision that overturned Cosby’s conviction.
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