In documents obtained by the Associated Press (AP), Bill Cosby, once beloved comedian and “America’s Dad,” testified under oath in a 2005 civil lawsuit, admitting that he acquired seven prescriptions for Quaaludes. He also admitted providing the sedatives to at least one woman and was intending to use them to sedate young women he wanted to have sex with. The AP fought Cosby’s lawyers and won a court battle in order to have the documents released.
Why has it taken 10 years to unseal these document? Federal Judge Eduardo Robreno of Pennsylvania cited the “stark contrast” between the comedian’s public and private personas as one of the reasons for the public’s right to know, despite the insistence of Cosby’s lawyers that releasing the documents would “embarrass” the comedian.
EW.com reports that in a memo from Robreno, he states that the allegations are part of the public domain [DASH], as are the vehement denials from Cosby and his legal team. “By joining the debate about the merits of the allegations against him, he has further diminished his entitlement to a claim of privacy.”
Robreno continues in the memo:
“[Cosby] has donned the mantle of public moralist and mounted the proverbial electronic or print soap box to volunteer his views on, among other things, child rearing, family life, education and crime.” As such, “He has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he is entitled to claim,” given the serious crimes of which he’s been accused.
The documents are pertaining to a deposition given by Cosby, testifying under oath in a 2005 civil lawsuit filed by a former Temple University employee. Cosby admitted to giving the woman three tablets of Benadryl, telling the victim they were “herbal” pills to help her relax. She claims that he then proceeded to sexually assault her. The incident allegedly occurred In 2002. This particular sexual abuse case was settled in 2006. The term of the settlement are undisclosed.
Representatives for Cosby released a statement to ABC News stating, “The only reason Mr. Cosby settled was because it would have been embarrassing in those days to put all those women on the stand, and his family had no clue. That would have been very hurtful.”
The documents reveal that Cosby alsoadmitted that he had sex with a woman who was 19 at the time and under the influence of drugs: “I meet Ms. (Redacted) in Las Vegas. She meets me back stage. I give her Quaaludes. We then have sex. I do not, I can’t judge at this time what she knows about herself for 19 years, a passive personality.”
Also admitted by Cosby in the deposition was that he had telephoned Tom Illus of the William Morris Agency with a request for him to send money to one female accuser. Cosby also testified that Illus — who died in 2011 — did not ask him for a reason.
Other information from the deposition includes:
“Defendant [Cosby] admitted that in his initial conversation with Plaintiff and her mother, he asked them what they wanted and they said they only wanted an apology and to know the name of the drug Defendant had given to Plaintiff.”
“He testified that some time after that call, he decided to call Plaintiff’s mother to offer Plaintiff funds for ‘education’ and to ask them to meet him in Florida. He then had a representative of the William Morris agency call Plaintiff. The William Morris agency also funneled money to one of the Rule 415 witnesses.”
Subsequently, Cosby, 77, has been accused of drugging and raping more than forty women since the 1970s. He has never been charged criminally, with most of the accusations being barred by statutes of limitations.
In an article by the AP, it is stated that the aforementioned 19-year-old victim is one of three women now suing Cosby for defamation.
The defamation suit accuses Cosby of casting them as liars, as his representatives denied their accusations of being drugged and sexually assaulted.
Attorney Gloria Allred is representing a client who claims that Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15. Cosby’s attorneys are worried about the potential for child sex charges.
