LAS VEGAS — Bill Cosby is accused of sexual assault and battery by nine women in a lawsuit filed in Nevada on Wednesday. The women alleged that the actor-comedian assaulted them in his Las Vegas hotel suite over a 13-year period.
In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Nevada, the women alleged that the assaults occurred between 1979 and 1992, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The women claimed that Cosby drugged or attempted to drug each woman before sexually assaulting them, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Cosby, 85, of using his “enormous power, fame and prestige” to isolate and sexually assault each of the nine women named in the lawsuit.
NEW: Nine women in Nevada sue Bill Cosby accusing him of sexual assault, weeks after the statute of limitations is lifted in the state. https://t.co/5grrO6ok1n
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 15, 2023
The lawsuit was filed weeks after Nevada passed a law eliminating the statute of limitations for civil cases, NBC News reported.
The women identified in the lawsuit are Lise Lotte-Lublin, Lili Bernard, Janice Baker-Kinney, Rebecca Cooper, Janice Dickinson, Linda Kirkpatrick, Angela Leslie, Pam Joy Abeyta and Heidi Thomas, according to the Review-Journal.
“NBC News Daily” will conduct an exclusive interview with some of the women in a show that will air on Thursday, NBC News reported.
According to the lawsuit, Lotte-Lublin met Cosby around 1989. He allegedly told her that he wanted to be a mentor in her modeling and acting career. According to the lawsuit, Cosby invited her to his Las Vegas hotel to assess her acting skills but instead told Lotte-Lublin to drink two beverages to help her relax, the Review-Journal reported.
Lotte-Lublin alleged that Cosby drugged her beverages and prevented her from moving on her own, the lawsuit states. Cosby then allegedly raped her, according to the lawsuit.
“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, according to the Review-Journal. “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 accounts of the eight other women were included in the lawsuit, the newspaper reported. They are seeking damages on the basis of sexual assault, battery, assault, infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.
“We are thankful that Nevada has recently provided our clients with an opportunity to find justice when other avenues have been and remain closed,” attorney Jordan Rutsky said in a statement, according to the Review-Journal. “We will continue to fight to hold Bill Cosby and others like him accountable for their actions whenever and wherever we are given the opportunity.”
Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s spokesperson, said in a statement that the women were motivated by their “addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed.”
“From this day forward, we will not continue to allow these women to parade various accounts ... against Mr. Cosby anymore without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom,” Wyatt said.
Cosby was convicted of a criminal sexual assault charge in Pennsylvania in April 2018, according to Variety. In June 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction due to an agreement made with a previous prosecutor that prevented him from being charged in the case.
Cosby has faced several lawsuits since the 1960s accusing him of drugging and raping women. Last year, a civil jury in Los Angeles County determined that he sexually abused then-16-year-old Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in the 1970s and awarded her $500,000, the Los Angeles Times reported.
On June 1, former Playboy model Victoria Valentino filed a lawsuit against Cosby, accusing him of drugging and raping her in 1969, according to The Washington Post.
Valentino sued Cosby under a new California law that temporarily lifted the time limit placed on when civil sexual assault lawsuits can be filed after an alleged assault, according to the newspaper.
“It’s interesting that these ‘Look Back Windows’ are formulating only in those states (New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles and Nevada) where many of Mr. Cosby’s alleged accusers reside. It makes all Americans ask the question, ‘Who’s funding these alleged accusers and who’s funding these lawmakers?’” Wyatt said in his statement. “Mr. Cosby is a citizen of (the) United States, but these judges and lawmakers are consistently allowing these civil suits to flood their dockets -- knowing that these women are not fighting for victims -- but for their addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed.”
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