Bill Cosby sued for alleged 1986 sexual assault of teen in Las Vegas hotel
Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby is being accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a teenager in 1986 in a new civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
This is the latest lawsuit against the former "Cosby Show" star, who has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women. He has denied all allegations.
Cosby, 86, was one of the first major celebrities convicted of sexual assault in the #MeToo era and spent nearly three years at a state prison near Philadelphia before a higher court threw out his conviction and released him in 2021, shocking prosecutors and his accusers.
According to the latest lawsuit, Cosby befriended Chelan Lasha when she was 15 after Cosby saw a picture of her on her stepmother's desk and he offered to help with her modeling career. Lasha was one of five accusers who testified at Cosby's sexual assault trial in 2018.
When Cosby visited the family's home in North Las Vegas, he would hand out Jello pudding pops to kids in the neighborhood, the suit claims. Then, when Lasha was 17 years old, Cosby asked her to go a suite at the Las Vegas Hilton, where Lasha worked at the bell desk, to have a professional photographer take headshots, according to the suit.
The photographer took photos of Lasha and then Cosby asked her to wet her hair and put on a robe, the suit says. She did while wearing a skort and a tank top underneath, according to the suit. After the photographer left, Cosby offered Lasha a blue capsule he said was an antihistamine, to help her with her sinus issues because she had been blowing her nose, along with a glass of Amaretto, the suit says.
"(Lasha) took the pill as Cosby had instructed because she trusted him and thought he was a good man. She never imagined that he was going to drug her and sexually assault her," the suit says.
After running lines with a vocal coach, Cosby gave her another glass of Amaretto and kept asking her if she was okay, according to the suit. When she sat down on a couch, he began rubbing her shoulders and told her she needed to lay down, the suit says.
"He took her down a corridor to a bedroom and laid Plaintiff down on a bed. Cosby lay next to Plaintiff. Plaintiff at this time realized that she could not move. Her eyes were open and she was aware of what was happening but she could not do anything about it," according to the lawsuit.
"Cosby started touching Plaintiff's breasts and nipples and was humping on her leg and grunting. Then Plaintiff felt Cosby ejaculating on her leg," the lawsuit claims.
Lasha then passed out and woke up groggy to Cosby repeatedly clapping his hands, saying: "Daddy says wake up," according to the lawsuit. Lasha noticed she was naked under her robe, the suit says.
"She was aware that Cosby had had sex with her. The plaintiff never consented to having sex with Cosby. She had been a virgin prior to this assault," according to the lawsuit.
Cosby then told her to get dressed and leave, and handed her a stack of $100 bills as he escorted her to the elevator, the suit says.
After she got home, Lasha told her sister and a friend what had happened, according to the suit. She also noticed blood stains in her underwear, the suit said. "Cosby called Plaintiff on the phone a couple of days later and asked Plaintiff how she was doing. She said she was not doing well and she was crying. Cosby then said people that talk too much can be quieted," according to the lawsuit.
Soon after, Lasha was "black-balled" from the entertainment industry, the suit claims. The traumatic incident ended up affecting the rest of Lasha's life, the suit says.
"She ended up having a downward spiral in her life and suffered many long-term problems, including drug addiction and other pathologies," according to the lawsuit. "The sexual assault has had lifelong negative impacts on Plaintiff's life, as it set her down a deleterious path and has tormented her ever since. She still breaks down crying about it to this day, and will likely do so for the rest of her life, or at least until she gets some justice and closure with Cosby facing accountability for his wrongful actions against her."
Andrew Wyatt, Cosby's publicist, said in a statement on Thursday that the comedian had no comment and
called the lawsuits against him "100% ridiculous and ludicrous."
"During the 2018 trial, during cross examination, Ms. Lasha stated under oath, 'Dr. Huxatable raped and drugged me.' However, the 'Cosby Show' had not come to fruition," he said. "Media should vet these women extensively."
Last year, nine women also filed a lawsuit against Cosby in Nevada. Each woman accused the comedian of sexual battery, assault, and abuse between 1979 and 1992, some in Las Vegas hotels. The women claimed Cosby "drugged or attempted to drug" each of them.
In 2022, a Los Angeles jury awarded awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she was 16 in 1975.
Lasha, who is alleging sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of a minor, battery, assault, infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, according to the suit.