Bill Cosby faces new sexual assault lawsuit from former Playboy model

Bill Cosby is facing a new lawsuit from former Playboy model Victoria Valentino, who says he drugged her and sexually assaulted her.

The 80-year-old says Mr Cosby raped her in 1969 after she had dinner with him.

Mr Cosby was freed from prison in 2021 when his sexual assault conviction was overturned.

Ms Valentino filed the civil suit under a California law that has temporarily lifted the statute of limitations in sexual assault cases.

In the lawsuit, she alleges that after ingesting pills Mr Cosby offered to her and her friend, Mr Cosby took them to a nearby office. There, she says she became unconscious and was assaulted after waking up.

She told Mr Cosby “I want to go home now”, according to the filing, which adds she was “incapable of consent” and physically helpless”.

Ms Valentino is seeking unspecified damages, court and attorney fees.

In a statement, Ms Valentino said the trauma the 85-year-old inflicted on her has affected “not only me, but my children and grandchildren”.

“By breaking my silence and speaking my truth, I hope this serves as my legacy to my family, and shows those survivors who have yet to find their voices, that hope and healing are possible,” she said in the statement shared with US media.

A representative for Mr Cosby, Andrew Wyatt, told US media outlets Ms Valentino’s claims were “without any proof or facts” and said she had “inconsistencies in her many statements”.

Once known to millions as “America’s Dad”, Mr Cosby starred in the 1980s hit sitcom “The Cosby Show”.

But his reputation was shattered after dozens of women came forward with stories of rape, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct from as early as the 1960s. Mr Cosby has consistently denied the allegations, claiming all of his sexual encounters were consensual.

In 2018, in Pennsylvania, he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault against a woman, Andrea Constand.

But the conviction was overturned after the state’s highest court found that Mr Cosby should not have been put on trial because he had reached an agreement with a previous prosecutor in 2005 that he would not be charged.

Last year, in a civil case, a jury in California found Mr Cosby had sexually assaulted a 16 year old in 1975 at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. He was ordered to pay $500,000 (£399,000) in damages.

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