Photo: Chelsea Lauren/Variety/REX/Shutterstock
A rep for Moonves and lawyer did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment. CBS declined to comment.
An exact quote from the draft report describing the nature of the relationship, perThe Times, reads: “A number of employees were aware of this and believed that the woman was protected from discipline or termination as a result of it.”
Moonves allegedly admitted during the investigation that he received oral sex from the unnamed woman, who was his “subordinate.” Investigators did not speak with her, and Moonves’ lawyer, Andrew J. Levander, insisted the relationship was consensual, according toTheTimes.
“He never put or kept someone on the payroll for the purpose of sex. He has cooperated extensively and fully with investigators,” the attorney told the outlet.
Gary Gershoff/WireImage
In addition to the alleged “on-call” employee, the report claimed the former CEO received oral sex from at least four other women “under circumstances that sound transactional and improper to the extent that there was no hint of any relationship, romance, or reciprocity.”
Again, lawyers were unable to speak to these women but insisted that “such a pattern arguably constitutes willful misfeasance and violation of the company’s sexual harassment policy,” according toTheNew York Times.
Regarding nonconsensual acts involving Moonves, investigators found that he may have allegedly assaulted a woman named Dr. Anne Peters. The story firstwent public inVanity Fairin September.
The physician claimed he tried to kiss her and masturbated in front of her during an appointment in 1999. Peters then allegedly told her friend, Arnold Kopelson, about the incident, hoping it would deter him from joining the board of CBS. But in response, he reportedly explained, “That [it] happened a long time ago and was trivial, and said, in effect, ‘we all did that.’ ”
Kopelson died in October, according toThe Times, but in the months beforehand, he was one of Moonves’ biggest advocates on the board. The draft report found he never did anything with the information about the alleged assault, and he said at a meeting over the summer that no number of allegations would “change [his] opinion” of Moonves.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Also revealed in the bombshell 21,666-word draft was that a resignation letter was allegedly written for Moonves a month before CBS formally announced his departure. According to the draft report, the network’s head of communications, Gil Schwartz, allegedly knew about Dr. Peters’ assault claims (and possibly others) in late 2017. Moonves, however, refused to sign the document, and Schwartz said nothing to the board, according toTheTimes.
TheTimessaid the final version of the report will be presented to the CBS board next week.
RELATED VIDEO: Actress Accuses Ousted CBS CEO Les Moonves of 1995 Sexual Assault and Cover Up in New Report
Back in late November,another actress, Bobbie Phillips, added her nameto a list of at least a dozen women who have accused Moonves of sexual misconduct.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Bobbie Phillips Instagram
Phillips — who has had television roles onThe Watcher,The X-Files,Boy Meets World, and in the filmShowgirls— only felt ready to come forward afterThe New Yorkerpublished its first report about Moonves’ accusers in July, she told theTimes.
“The moment I read that there were other women he had victimized, the light bulb went off,” she said. “I realized I had been manipulated beyond words and that his outreach to me was phony, an attempt to silence me. This all caused me incredible pain, both physical and emotional, as I had to grapple with the fact that I had allowed the same monster to victimize me twice, in the 1990s and once again some 20 years later.”
At the time, Moonves responded to the outlet, “I strongly believe that the sexual encounter with Ms. Phillips more than 20 years ago was consensual.”
source: people.com
