In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Nevada on Wednesday, nine more women have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault.
Per CBS News, the women have accused the disgraced comedian of drugging and sexually assaulting them in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe homes, dressing rooms, and hotels in separate incidents between 1979 and 1992. The lawsuit brings the total number of women to accuse the 85-year-old Cosby Show star of rape or sexual harassment to over 60 women.
In a deposition, as reported by KLAS, lawyers representing the women said “Cosby admitted to obtaining drugs to use on women with whom he wanted to engage in sex." One of the women in the lawsuit, Lise Lotte-Lublin, claimed that Cosby provided her with "two beverages" during an acting mentoring session in 1989 "and instructed her to drink the beverages to help her relax and improvise more effectively." After drinking the provided beverages, she said she "felt dizzy" and Cosby allegedly stoked her while performing a sexual act. “Once Cosby had isolated and incapacitated Ms. Lublin, Cosby engaged in sexual acts with Ms. Lublin, including penetration, without her consent and against her will,” read the documents.
Another woman, Lili Bernard, said that she was drugged by Cosby during a meeting in a hotel suite in 1990. When she woke up, she found she was naked and unable to move. “Cosby was naked by her feet. Ms. Bernard told Cosby that she did not want to have sex and cried out for help," reads the lawsuit. Other women in the lawsuit made similar allegations regarding encounters with Cosby, who was said to provide them with drinks he had spiked.
The lawsuit comes just a few weeks after a bill in Nevada eliminating a two-year deadline for instances of sexual abuse cases to be reported was signed by Governor Joe Lombardo. "For years I have fought for survivors of sexual assault and today is the first time I will be able to fight for myself," Lotte-Lublin said of the bill, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "With the new law change, I now have the ability to take my assailant Bill Cosby to court. My journey has just begun, but I am grateful for this opportunity to find justice."
Cosby's publicist Andrew Wyatt criticized the bill in a statement released on Wednesday. "From this day forward, we will not continue to allow these women to parade various accounts of an alleged allegation against Mr. Cosby anymore without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom," Wyatt said.
Earlier this month, a former Playboy model accused Cosby of assault in a lawsuit.
