Bill Cosby Countersues Seven of His Rape Accusers for Defamation
LatestBill Cosby’s attorney announced Monday morning that he is countersuing seven women accusing him of rape. Cosby is accusing the women of making “malicious, opportunistic and false and defamatory accusations of sexual misconduct against him.” Around 55 women have said the comedian raped or sexually assaulted them.
Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz filed a defamation suit against Cosby in December 2014. They were joined by four more women—Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie—in November. The suit accuses Cosby of falsely claiming they were lying about their sexual abuse claims.
At first, Cosby’s attorneys tried to argue that the suit was unconstitutional and a violation of his First Amendment rights. And now, having evidently dropped that, Cosby’s countersuing them on the same defamation claims they brought against him. His attorney Monique Pressley told USA Today the women are lying for financial gain, specifically to ruin his deals with NBC and Netflix: