CBS to pay $30.5M for hiding sexual assault claims against Moonves

Nov. 3 (UPI) -- New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured a $30.5 million settlement from CBS after an investigation found that its senior leadership had concealed from the public, shareholders and regulators sexual assault allegations lodged against the network's former president and chief executive Leslie Moonves.

The agreement announced Wednesday states CBS is required to pay $28 million -- $22 million of which will be returned to CBS shareholders -- with $6 million to go toward strengthening mechanisms for reporting and investigating sexual harassment and assault complaints.

Moonves is required to pay the remaining $2.5 million, which will also go to CBS shareholders. Under the agreement, the former executive is barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company doing business in the state for five years without written approval by the attorney general's office.

"As a publicly traded company, CBS failed its most basic duty to be honest and transparent with the public and investors," James said in a statement announcing the settlement agreement. "After trying to bury the truth to protect their fortunes, today, CBS and Leslie Moonves are paying millions of dollars for their wrongdoing."

The settlement agreement follows an investigation conducted by James' office that found Moonves and CBS attempted to conceal several sexual assault complaints made against the chief executive knowing that if they came to light he would lose his job, which would affect the company's bottomline knowing that he'd be difficult to replace.

Moonves resigned from CBS in Sept. 9, 2018, after several women accused him of sexual assault and harassment over three decades.

According to a 37-page report by Jame's office, prior to him stepping down, Moonves and CBS worked to conceal the allegations against him staring Nov. 10, 2017, when an unidentified women walked into the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department to file a report accusing Moonves of sexually abusing her and workplace retaliation in the 1980s.

That night, a commanding officer of the division contacted an executive at CBS to inform them of the allegation. The officer then shared the unredacted police report of the allegation with the executive who then shared it with Moonves and other CBS executives.

"Each of the executives then went to work to deal with the impending crisis," the report said, adding that "[o]ver the next few days and months, the LAPD Captain continued to secretly provide Moonves and CBS executives with the statues updates of the LAPD's investigation."

In June 2018 amid the suppression effort and six weeks before the allegation was made public, one of the executives with knowledge of the complaint sold 160,709 shares of CBS stock valued at more than $8.8 million, the report states.

"CBS and Leslie Moonves' attempts to silence victims, lie to the public and mislead investors can only be described as reprehensible," James said, adding that "[t]oday's action should send a strong message to companies across New York that profiting off injustice will not be tolerated and those who violate the law will be held accountable."

According to the agreement, neither CBS nor Moonves admit wrongdoing.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve this matter concerning events from 2018 with the New York attorney general's office, without any admission of liability or wrongdoing," a spokesperson with Paramount, CBS' parent company, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.