Bill Cosby is facing a new lawsuit brought by nine women who allege that he sexually assaulted them.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada alleges that the former “The Cosby Show” star “engaged in the serial sexual assault of dozens of women for his sexual gratification by drugging women and using unknown substances to incapacitate them.”
The alleged assaults and batteries took place in Nevada between 1979 and 1992. Several of the incidents, the lawsuit alleges, took place in the 85-year-old comedian’s Las Vegas hotel suite.
The lawsuit was filed after Nevada last month passed a law that lifted the statute of limitations in civil cases related to sexual abuse involving adults.
Cosby, the court filing says, “used his enormous power, fame, and prestige, and claimed interest in helping them and/or their careers as a pretense to isolate and sexually assault them.”
The lawsuit describes Cosby’s alleged actions as “unlawful, abusive, manipulative and predatory.”
Cosby was sentenced to serve three to 10 years in prison after being convicted of sexual assault in 2018. He was released from prison in 2021 after his conviction was overturned by Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court.
More than 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct over the years, according to The Associated Press. Cosby has denied all of the allegations against him.
A representative for Cosby couldn’t be reached. The performer’s spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, criticized so-called “lookback laws” in a Wednesday statement to the AP, saying that Cosby “is a citizen of these United States but these judges and lawmakers are consistently allowing these civil suits to flood their dockets — knowing that these women are not fighting for victims — but for their addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed.”
Last year, Cosby hinted at a possible return to comedy.
“When I come out of this, I feel that I will be able to perform and be the Bill Cosby that my audience knows me to be,” he said during a radio interview.