CBS has agreed to pay a $30.5 million settlement after a state investigation found that the media company knew about and covered up multiple allegations of sexual assault made against former CBS President and CEO Les Moonves.
Company leaders hid the accusations from regulators, shareholders and the public. A senior executive at CBS who knew about the allegations sold millions of dollars of CBS stock in the weeks before the allegations became public, violating New York's laws on insider trading.
The broadcast giant will pay $22 million to shareholders and $6 million to sexual harassment and assault programs. Mooves is required to pay $2.5 million to stockholders whom New York Attorney General Letitia James said initially did not know about the allegations.
"CBS and Leslie Moonves' attempts to silence victims, lie to the public and mislead investors can only be described as reprehensible," James said in a statement. "After trying to bury the truth to protect their fortunes, today CBS and Leslie Moonves are paying millions of dollars for their wrongdoing. Today'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."
In 2017, a woman filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) describing an assault by Moonves, according to documents filed in the investigation. An LAPD captain then privately alerted CBS as well as Moonves. Each party tried to...
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