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Bill Cosby sues seven of his sexual assault accusers for defamation
The counterclaims were filed to a federal court in Massachusetts on Monday
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Your support makes all the difference.Bill Cosby, the former beloved comic and Hollywood actor, is now suing several women who have accused him of sexual assault.
After losing numerous honorary degrees, television deals and nearly all public credibility, Mr Cosby is countersuing seven of the alleged victims for defamation.
Mr Cosby claims that he never drugged nor assaulted the women in new legal documents filed in a Massachusetts federal court, Deadline reports.
In total, more than 50 women have accused the actor of sexual assault. Now, he singles out several women —Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie — claiming that they cost him several high profile deals with NBC and Netflix and only made their accusations for financial gain.
It's unclear the amount of money the former comedian seeks from each of the women.
“Each Counterclaim Defendant induced both NBC and Netflix to postpone or cancel their contracts with Mr. Cosby by engaging in a campaign to assassinate Mr. Cosby’s reputation and character by willfully, maliciously, and falsely accusing Mr. Cosby of multi decade-old purported sexual misconduct in an opportunistic attempt to extract financial gain from their allegations,” the court filings read.
"This was expected. It’s a page out of a defense lawyer’s playbook," attorney Joseph Cammarata told USA Today. Mr Cammarata represents each of the seven women named in the countersuit.
"It’s curious to me how there can be scores of other ladies who have come out, and yet Mr. Cosby has singled out seven of them to bring a claim against. It’s seems a bit retaliatory to me.”