The American television channel CBS and its former boss Leslie Moonves will have to pay 30.5 million dollars after an agreement with the New York courts to settle an insider trading case linked to accusations of harassment and sexual assault.
“Under the agreement reached today, CBS is to pay $28 million, of which $22 million will be returned to its shareholders and $6 million” pour “strengthen mechanisms for reporting and investigating complaints of sexual harassment and assault”, New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. Leslie Moonves, who was ousted in September 2018, is to pay CBS shareholders $2.5 million.
The case was triggered by an investigation, published in two river articles in August and September 2018 by the magazine New Yorker. The former CEO of the chain Leslie Moonves was accused by twelve women of harassment and sexual assault.
According to the prosecutor, “CBS and its senior executives were aware of the multiple sexual assault allegations made against Mr. Moonves, but they intentionally concealed these allegations from regulators, shareholders and the public for months.”
A policeman involved
The investigation of its services shows that another senior manager of the chain “sold millions of dollars worth of CBS stock in the weeks before the charges were released”.
She also recalls how Cory Palka, a Los Angeles police captain, informed a senior CBS executive in November 2017 that a complaint had just been filed by a victim against Leslie Moonves. The information would then have been shared with other leaders of the chain.
“We are pleased to resolve this matter relating to events in 2018, without any admission of liability or wrongdoing”, responded Paramount in a statement. The case “does not concern the current company in any way”the group said.