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NEW YORK (AP) — CBS and its former president, Leslie Moonves, will pay $30.5 million as part of a deal with the New York attorney general’s office, the office said. The network’s executives conspired with the Los Angeles police chief to conceal the targeting of Moonves.
Under the deal announced Wednesday by Attorney General Letitia James, the broadcast giant is required to pay shareholders $22 million and an additional $6 million for sexual harassment and sexual assault programming. Moonves will have to pay $2.5 million, all of which will benefit shareholders, who the attorney general said were initially ignorant of the allegations.
Before the allegations against Moonves became public, at least one of those executives — one of the few involved in the internal investigation — sold millions of dollars in stock, which the attorney general’s office said amounted to the equivalent of secret deal.
“As a public company, CBS failed to meet its most basic obligations, which is to be honest and transparent with the public and investors. After trying to cover up the truth to protect their wealth, today CBS and Leslie Moonves are paying for their wrongdoing million dollars,” James said in a statement, calling the attempt to mislead investors “reprehensible.”
A spokesman for Paramount Universal, which owns CBS, said it was “pleased to resolve this issue … without any liability or wrongdoing,” adding that “this matter involves the former CBS CEO. Officer suspected of misconduct, he was fired for cause. In 2018, there is no relationship with the current company.”
Moonves resigned from CBS on September 9, 2018.
In a document outlining its findings, the attorney general’s office detailed an alleged plan by the Los Angeles police chief to try to cover up the allegations against Moonves.
The police captain, who was not named in the report, told CBS that a woman filed a complaint against Moonves at the LAPD’s Hollywood division.
The captain then personally met Moonves and another CBS executive and provided them with classified information about the investigation. The captain instructed the police investigating the complaint to “caution” the woman not to bring her allegations to the media, according to the attorney general’s office.
When the allegations were finally made public and Moonves resigned, the captain sent a note to a CBS contact saying, “We’ve worked very hard to avoid this day.”
He also wrote a note to Moonves saying: “I am deeply sorry that this happened. I will always stand with you and swear allegiance to you.”
The attorney general’s office said it found text messages between the police captain, CBS executives and Moonves that indicated efforts to prevent the complaint from becoming public.
The Los Angeles Police Department had no immediate comment Wednesday, but a spokesman said the agency was investigating the allegations.
Moonves’ resignation comes amid complaints from multiple women of alleged sexual misconduct. Some plaintiffs claim Moonves forced them to perform oral sex. The New Yorker reported at the time that at least one female television executive had filed a criminal complaint with Los Angeles police.
Moonves admitted to having relationships with three of the women, but said they were consensual. He denies attacking anyone, saying in a statement at the time: “False allegations from decades ago are now being made against me.”
Under an agreement with the attorney general’s office, CBS also needs to reform its human resources practices around sexual harassment.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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