Six additional women accuse CBS chief Les Moonves of sexual misconduct: New Yorker

Six additional women are accusing CBS chief Les Moonves of sexual harassment or assault years ago as the network negotiates his departure, according to a New Yorker report.

The new accusations bring the number of women making allegations against Moonves to 12, as a previous New Yorker article detailed six women’s claims of sexual misconduct. 

{mosads}One of the additional women, Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, told the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow that she filed a criminal complaint against Moonves last year with the Los Angeles Police Department, alleging that Moonves forced her to perform oral sex and threw her into a wall in the late 1980s when they worked together at a production company.

Law enforcement officials told the New Yorker that Golden-Gottlieb’s accusations were credible, but they declined to pursue the charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

The additional women are accusing Moonves of exposing himself without their consent, using physical violence against them and threatening to hurt their careers following questionable incidents, according to the publication.   

Moonves in a statement to The New Yorker admitted to three of the sexual encounters, but insisted they were all consensual. 

“The appalling accusations in this article are untrue,” Moonves said. “What is true is that I had consensual relations with three of the women some 25 years ago before I came to CBS. And I have never used my position to hinder the advancement or careers of women.”

“In my 40 years of work, I have never before heard of such disturbing accusations,” he continued. “I can only surmise they are surfacing now for the first time, decades later, as part of a concerted effort by others to destroy my name, my reputation, and my career. Anyone who knows me knows that the person described in this article is not me.”

Sources told The New Yorker that Moonves was informed of Golden-Gottlieb’s complaint to the LAPD and he told certain board members about the accusations but was allowed to stay on. 

“They don’t care about me,” Golden-Gottlieb, who worked as an assistant to Moonves, said. “I can’t do anything for them.” 

Another accuser, Jessica Pallingston, detailed an incident to The New Yorker during which she said Moonves aggressively pressured her into performing oral sex after inviting her to his hotel room and asked her to give him a massage. 

Pallingston said he became cold and emotionally abusive after she began to rebuff his advances. 

“It played a number on my head, especially in terms of self-worth, professionally,” Pallingston said. 

CNBC previously reported that the CBS board is offering Moonves an exit package worth about $100 million, made up mostly of CBS stock. Moonves is owed as much as $180 million in severance under his contract, according to CNBC.

CBS and Moonves were sued by one the network’s stockholders last month over the drop in the company’s share price, with the stockholder indicating the network misled investors about Moonves’s alleged misconduct.