Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations

American entertainer Bill Cosby has been the subject of publicized sexual assault allegations. With the earliest alleged incidents taking place in the mid-1960s, Cosby has been accused by nearly 60 women of either rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and/or sexual misconduct. Earlier sexual assault allegations against Cosby became more public after an October 2014 comedy routine by comedian Hannibal Buress alluding to Cosby's covert sexual misbehavior went viral, and many additional claims were made after that date. The dates of the alleged incidents span from 1965 to 2008 across 10 U.S. states and one Canadian province. Cosby has maintained his innocence and repeatedly denied the allegations. In November 2014, in response to a question about the allegations, Cosby said: "I don't talk about it." Cosby has declined to publicly discuss the accusations in past interviews. However, he told Florida Today, "people shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos." In May 2015 he said, "I have been in this business 52 years and I've never seen anything like this. Reality is a situation and I can't speak." In the wake of the allegations, numerous organizations have severed ties with the comedian, and previously awarded honors and titles have been revoked. Reruns of The Cosby Show and other shows featuring Cosby have also been pulled from syndication by many organizations. Twenty-five colleges and universities have rescinded his honorary degrees. In an attempt to explain the backlash against Cosby, Adweek reporter Jason Lynch noted that the "media landscape has changed considerably—and has now been joined by the far-less-forgiving social media arena." Most of the alleged acts fall outside the statutes of limitations for criminal legal proceedings, but criminal charges have been filed against Cosby in one case and numerous civil lawsuits have been brought against him. As of November 2015, eight related civil lawsuits are active against Cosby, including two that also target Cosby's lawyer and one that also implicates his wife and manager Camille Cosby. Gloria Allred is representing 29 of the alleged victims. In July 2015, some of the court records from Andrea Constand's 2005 civil lawsuit against Cosby were unsealed and released to the public. The full transcript of his deposition was also released to the media by a court reporting service. In his testimony, Cosby admitted to casual sex, involving use of Quaaludes, with a series of young women, and acknowledged that his dispensing the prescription drug was illegal. On December 30, 2015, three Class II Felony charges of aggravated indecent assault were filed against Cosby in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania based on allegations by Constand concerning incidents in January 2004. Allegations- 1965–1996 allegations: Of the many other allegations against Cosby, the earliest date claimed was December 1965; Kristina Ruehli accused Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in his Beverly Hills home on that date. At that time, Ruehli told her boyfriend about the incident, and in the 1980s also told her daughter. However, she did not speak further about it until 2005, when she came forward in the Andrea Constand case as Jane Doe #12. In the early 1980s, Joan Tarshis told her story to freelance reporter John Milward. However, Milward decided not to publish the story. In 1996, Playboy Playmate Victoria Valentino gave a videotaped interview in which she made sexual assault allegations against Cosby. The interview was for an exposé on the lives of Playboy models, which was never published. Later allegations and investigations (2000–2005): On February 1, 2000, according to a statement provided by Det. Jose McCallion of the Manhattan Special Victims Bureau, Lachele Covington, who was 20 years old at the time, filed a criminal complaint against Cosby alleging that on January 28, 2000, at Cosby's Manhattan townhouse, Cosby tried to put her hands down his pants and then exposed himself. Covington also alleged that Cosby grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hands down her pants at his home. Cosby was questioned and insisted "it was not true." The police referred her complaint to the D.A., but they declined to prosecute. In January 2004, Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, accused Cosby of drugging and fondling her; however, in February 2005, Montgomery County's District Attorney said there would be no charges due to insufficient credible and admissible evidence. Constand then filed a civil claim in March 2005, with 13 women as potential witnesses if the case went to court. Cosby settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in November 2006. After learning that charges were not pursued in the case, California lawyer Tamara Lucier Green, the only publicly named woman in the prior case, came forward with allegations in February 2005 that Cosby had drugged and assaulted her in the 1970s. Cosby's lawyer said that Cosby did not know her and the events did not happen. In a July 2005 Philadelphia Daily News interview, Beth Ferrier, one of the anonymous "Jane Doe" witnesses in the Constand case, alleged that in 1984 he drugged her coffee and she awoke with her clothes partially removed. In 2005, Shawn Upshaw Brown, a woman whom Cosby admitted to having an extra-marital affair with in the 1970s, claimed in the National Enquirer that Cosby drugged and raped her the last time the two were together sexually. Brown is the mother of Autumn Jackson, who claims to be Cosby's illegitimate daughter. Jackson was convicted in 1997 of extortion after she threatened to make the claims public in The Globe. In 2015, Brown went into more detail with her renewed allegations in an interview for the Daily Mail. Additional assault allegations: After the Buress routine, in November 2014, journalist Joan Tarshis, model Janice Dickinson, actress Louisa Moritz, Lou Ferrigno's wife Carla Ferrigno, Florida nurse Therese Serignese, Playboy Playmates Victoria Valentino and Sarita Butterfield, actress Michelle Hurd, and 11 other women also made accusations of alleged assaults by Cosby against themselves between 1965 and 2004; in addition, social advocate and television presenter Charlotte Laws went public with an allegation of assault by Cosby against a friend of hers, with whom she subsequently lost contact. In a Vanity Fair article, model Beverly Johnson alleged she was drugged during an audition in 1986, and that she knows other women with similar accounts. Cosby's attorney stated that Dickinson's account differed from prior accounts she gave of the incident and released a statement that said in part: "Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment." A follow-up statement dismissed the allegations as "unsubstantiated" and an example of "media vilification." A joint statement from Cosby and Constand, who had received a civil case settlement in 2006, clarified the statement released a few days prior by stating that it did not refer to Constand's case which was resolved years ago. In January 2015, Cindra Ladd alleged that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1969. In May 2015, Lili Bernard claimed that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1992 and that she had been interviewed by police in Atlantic City, New Jersey regarding the allegation. Because that state has no statute of limitations for rape, Bernard hoped charges would be brought, but media reports noted, "it wasn't clear ... if what Bernard says happened to her happened in New Jersey." On July 27, 2015, New York magazine's cover featured images of 35 women sitting in chairs with the last chair empty, suggesting there may be more victims who have not come forward yet. The 35 women told "their stories about being assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the culture that wouldn't listen." Eleven other women known to New York magazine who allege sexual assault by Cosby declined to be photographed and interviewed for the feature. According to Vox, the stories span "more than five decades" and are "remarkably similar, typically involving the comedian offering a woman a cup of coffee or some sort of alcoholic beverage — which may be spiked with drugs — and allegedly sexually assaulting the victim as she's impaired or unconscious." On September 17, 2015, A&E broadcast the documentary program Cosby: The Women Speak, in which thirteen alleged victims provided interviews regarding their experiences. As of October 24, 2015, nearly 60 women have claimed that they were sexually abused by him, and the terms "sociopath" and "serial rapist" have been used to describe him. Jewell Allison, one of his accusers, described him as a "sociopath" and stated: "We may be looking at America's greatest serial rapist that ever got away with this for the longest amount of time. He got away with it because he was hiding behind the image of Cliff Huxtable." Table of accuser's allegations: Cosby has been accused by 59 women of either rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, and/or sexual misconduct. There were also two instances of alleged child sexual abuse, both involving girls 15 years of age. The earliest alleged incidents took place in the mid-1960s, with the rest scattered all the way until the latest in 2008. Of the 59 purported victims, 44 involved drug use and 15 did not. Gloria Allred has stated that there are more alleged victims who have yet to come out. As reported in the media,a number of women who have accused comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault either have factual contradictions in their accounts or have personal histories that cast doubt on their claims. Cosby’s recent accusers, including multiple women currently or previously represented by attorney Gloria Allred, have engaged in statements and behavior that warrant increased scrutiny of their public accusations against Cosby. Cosby attorney Marty Singer stated “There is virtually no standard by which the media are holding Mr. Cosby’s accusers.” “Anyone and everyone who wants to file a suit or get on television can be guaranteed fawning coverage. The very same media have demonstrated an unconscionable disinterest in the veracity of his accusers and their motives.” The backgrounds of some accusers as reported in the media include false reporting to law enforcement, arrest for theft, assault, disorderly conduct, prostitution, false memory fabricating testimony, perjury, mental health concerns, behavior inconsistent with the accusations. In the one criminal case brought against Cosby the DA, Bruce Castor, testified he granted Cosby immunity from prosecution in the 2005 case because of a lack of credible evidence and various changes in the principal witnesses stories told to investigators. All other investigations by authorities have been dismissed due to lack of credible evidence or due to statute of limitations. Cosby has maintained his innocence and repeatedly denied the allegations. In November 2014, in response to a question about the allegations, Cosby said: "I don't talk about it." Cosby has declined to publicly discuss the accusations in past interviews. However, he told Florida Today, "people shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos." In May 2015 he said, "I have been in this business 52 years and I've never seen anything like this. Reality is a situation and I can't speak."