LAS VEGAS, NV (CelebrityAccess) – Nine more women have come forward and accused disgraced actor and comedian Bill Cosby (85) of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed Wednesday (June 14) in a federal court in Nevada. Two of the nine women named as Plaintiffs in the case are former model Janice Dickinson and actress Lili Bernard.
In the new lawsuit, the women allege Cosby used his “enormous power, fame and prestige, and claimed interest in helping them and/or their careers, as a pretense to isolate and sexually assault them,” reports The Guardian.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of Republican governor Joe Lombardo signing the “lookback law” that eliminated a two-year deadline for adults to file sexual abuse cases.
The nine plaintiffs in the filing: Janice Dickinson, Lise Lotte-Lublin, Janice Baker Kinney, Lili Bernard, Heidi Thomas, Linda Kirkpatrick, Rebecca Cooper, Pam Joy Abeyta and Angela Leslie, all allege they were drugged and assaulted by Cosby between 1979 and 1992 in various homes, dressing rooms and hotels in the Reno, Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe areas.
Lotte-Lublin advocated for the “lookback law,” and a Nevada native alleges Cosby gave her spiked drinks and raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in 1989. According to the lawsuit, Cosby gave Lotte-Lublin two drinks he said would “help her relax” but caused her to feel disoriented. Cosby allegedly touched her hair as he masturbated and grabbed her wrists, holding them between her legs. She claims she was then dragged to a bedroom where she was assaulted.
“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 told the Las Vegas 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.”
Dickinson claims Cosby invited her to Lake Tahoe in 1982 to discuss a potential role in his TV show. TMZ reports they went to dinner, where she was complaining of menstrual cramps, and Cosby gave her a pill and said they would help. The former model said she felt woozy, disoriented and dizzy after taking the pill – and claims Cosby took her to his suite and raped her.
Bernard, a guest star on The Cosby Show, claims Cosby arranged for her to travel from NYC to Nevada in 1990 under the guise of arranging a meeting with producers in Hollywood. TMZ, who has obtained a copy of the lawsuit, reports that when Bernard got to Las Vegas, Cosby told her the producers could not make it to the meeting and invited her to his hotel suite for a mentoring session, where she claims he encouraged her to quickly drink a beverage that made her feel dizzy, disoriented and giddy.
Upon waking, Bernard claims she was lying naked next to a nude Cosby, who raped her despite her saying no and crying for help. In addition, Bernard is suing in the state of New Jersey, alleging Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in an Atlantic City hotel in 1990.
Earlier this month in California, Victoria Valentino (80), a former Playboy model, filed suit against Cosby, alleging he drugged and sexually assaulted her and another woman at his home in 1969. Valentino filed the lawsuit under the new Cali law that suspends the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.
Cosby’s publicist, Andrew Wyatt, released a statement on Wednesday (June 14) stating, “Mr. Cosby is a citizen of these 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.
“From this day forward, we will not continue to allow these women to parade various accounts of an alleged allegation against Mr. Cosby anymore without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom.”
