A group of women have come forward with allegations against Bill Cosby.
More than a year after his 2021 release from jail, The Cosby Show star is facing a new lawsuit from five women who each claim they were sexually assaulted, battered and abused by Cosby. According to court documents, he used his "power, fame, and prestige" to allegedly commit these crimes.
The plaintiffs—Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson and Cindra Ladd—are also suing Kaufman Astoria Studios, The Carsey-Werner Company and NBC Universal Media for allegedly knowing Cosby was sexually abusing, assaulting and battering them but seemingly not taking action to stop him.
"Over the course of several decades, Bill Cosby engaged in the serial and sexual assault of dozens of women for this sexual gratification," the court documents read, "while the co-defendants enabled and aided these sexual assaults to benefit financially by their association with Bill Cosby."
The alleged instances happened on differing dates within the 1960s, the 1980s and 1990s, the documents note. Bernard, who met the actor on set of The Cosby Show, accused Cosby of drugging and raping her on two separate occasions, in addition to alleging he groped her without her consent, attempted to force her to perform a sexual act on him against her will and pushed her down the stairs of his home.
Tirl, who had a role on The Cosby Show, and Gittens—who was mentored by Cosby and visited the set as his guest—also claimed they were sexually assaulted by Cosby.
Thompson, who met Cosby when she was 17, was also mentored by him. She alleged that when she was 18, he forced her to perform a sexual act on him without her consent. Ladd, meanwhile, claimed had a platonic friendship with Cosby before he drugged and raped her.
Cosby's attorney Jennifer Bonjean spoke out about the allegations.
"The lawsuit is no surprise as state legislatures continue to abolish statutes of limitations," Bonjean said in a Dec. 6 statement to E! News. "These statutes set a dangerous precedent as they allow accusers to bring uncorroborated, stale claims that are difficult to defend in this #metoo climate."
The statement continued, "It is an affront to principles of Due Process and something the US Supreme Court will hopefully look at eventually. In the meantime, we will vigorously defend each and every accusation brought against Mr. Cosby."
This new case comes more than one year after Cosby was released from prison following the Pennsylvania's Supreme Court's decision to vacate his 2018 assault conviction in June 2021. Cosby was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004, an accusation he denies. He was sentenced by a judge in September 2018 to serve three to 10 years in prison.
In a separate case, almost one year after his prison release, a jury in California found Cosby liable of sexually assaulting Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in the 1970s, when Huth was a teenager. Cosby denied these allegations.
At the time, Cosby did not attend the trial in person. The Jury awarded Huth $500,000 in damages.
E! News has reached out to NBCUniversal for comment.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
E! News has reached out to NBC PR and they declined to comment on a legal matter.