A former Playboy model has filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Bill Cosby.
The lawsuit alleges that the now 85-year-old actor sexually assaulted her after they crossed paths at a Los Angeles restaurant in 1969, claiming she was drugged and raped, according to People.
Victoria Valentino has filed the lawsuit against Cosby in Los Angeles County Superior Court, nearly six months after five women who previously accused the disgraced comedian of sexual assault filed a 34-page complaint against the actor in New York’s Supreme Court.
READ MORE:
Bill Cosby Faces New Rape Accusation In Lawsuit Alleging 1986 Sexual Assault
These claims were initially brought forward by Valentino in 2014.
Valentino alleges that after noticing her in distress over the death of her 6-year-old son, Bill Cosby approached her and offered a pill, stating, “Here! Take this! It will make you feel better. It will make us all feel better.”
She then alleges that after consuming the pill, she was rendered incapacitated and subsequently engaged in forced sexual intercourse with Cosby.
In a press release shared by her attorney, Valentino expressed that Cosby exploited her during a time of deep sorrow when she was grieving the loss of her son.
In a statement given to People, Andrew Wyatt, spokesperson for Cosby, characterized the lawsuit as an assault on “the Black men in America.”
“Victoria Valentino has skirted from town to town promoting her alleged allegations against Mr. Cosby to anyone that would give her platform, without any proof or facts,” says the statement. “America is continuing to see that this a formula to make sure that no more Black Men in America accumulate the American Dream that was secured by Mr. Cosby.”
Bill Cosby was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018, and faced allegations from Temple University employee Andrea Constand, who accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Although Cosby served more than two years in prison before his conviction was overturned, leading to his release in June 2021.
