Cosby, tabloid crushed accuser's story

Comedian Bill Cosby speaks at the National Action Network's 20th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards gala in New York in this April 6, 2011 file photo. His kooky thoughts on love and marriage are the basis for his first TV special in 30 years "Bill Cosby: Far From Finished," which premiered on Comedy Central in November. To match Interview PEOPLE-BILLCOSBY/ REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files (UNITED STATES - Tags: HEADSHOT ENTERTAINMENT)

Comedian Bill Cosby speaks at the National Action Network's 20th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards gala in New York in this April 6, 2011 file photo. His kooky thoughts on love and marriage are the basis for his first TV special in 30 years "Bill Cosby: Far From Finished," which premiered on Comedy Central in November. To match Interview PEOPLE-BILLCOSBY/ REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files (UNITED STATES - Tags: HEADSHOT ENTERTAINMENT)

Published Nov 28, 2014

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Bill Cosby testified under oath in 2005 that he gave the National Enquirer an exclusive interview about looming sexual-assault accusations by a Canadian woman against him in exchange for the tabloid spiking a second accuser's story.

Excerpts released on Wednesday of Cosby's deposition from a civil lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand quote Cosby as saying he feared the public would believe her sexual-assault accusations if the Enquirer published similar claims by Beth Ferrier. Both women accused Cosby of drugging and molesting them.

“Did you ever think that if Beth Ferrier's story was printed in the National Enquirer, that that would make the public believe that maybe Andrea was also telling the truth?” Cosby was asked.

“Exactly,” Cosby replied, according to court motions initially filed under seal and made available from archived federal court records.

Cosby, in the deposition, said he and his lawyers forged a contract with the Enquirer.

“I would give them an exclusive story, my words,” Cosby said in the September 29, 2005, deposition. In return, “they would not print the story of -print Beth's story.”

The release of the documents comes days after Cosby was shown on an Associated Press video trying to persuade the news cooperative not to use his response when asked this month about sexual-abuse allegations.

“I would appreciate if it was scuttled,” Cosby said in a videotaped exchange with the AP on November 20.

Cosby said in 2005 he had been given a draft of Ferrier's interview with the Enquirer and was told she had passed its lie-detector test. He said he also was given an advance look at his exclusive, titled ‘My Story’, which warned that he would defend against anyone trying to “exploit” him.

Constand later sued Cosby and the Enquirer, alleging defamation. The claims were consolidated with her sexual-assault lawsuit against Cosby and were settled.

Email messages seeking comment on Wednesday from the National Enquirer's editor and spokesperson were not immediately returned.

Cosby had said at his deposition that Constand and her mother asked only for an apology in early phone calls about the issue in January 2005, and he said they received one.

“Andrea's mother said, 'That's all I wanted, Bill,'“ Cosby testified.

Constand's lawyers argued in their defamation suit: “Requesting only an apology is not the action of an extortionist or someone who wants to 'exploit' a celebrity.”

They said that Cosby later called back and offered to pay for Constand's “education.”

Constand had met Cosby through her job with the women's basketball team at Temple University in Philadelphia, and she said he sexually assaulted her at his home in 2004. She quit the job and moved home that year, and she first filed a report with Ontario police on January 13, 2005, and filed a federal civil suit that March. After prosecutors near Philadelphia decided not to file criminal charges, several other women came forward to support Constand's claims, including Ferrier.

Ferrier has gone public about what she called her brief affair with Cosby when she was a model in 1984. She said that he once drugged her coffee during an encounter in Denver and that she woke up hours later in the backseat of her car with her clothes disheveled. The Enquirer in 2005 withheld her story and instead published Cosby's account, in which he said, “Sometimes you try to help people and it backfires on you and then they try to take advantage of you.”

In the legal deposition, taken at a Philadelphia hotel, Constand's lawyer asked Cosby if he tried in the Enquirer article “to make the public believe that Andrea was not telling the truth?”

“Yes,” Cosby replied.

Constand's civil lawsuit grew to include nine women willing to testify about allegations of sexual assaults involving Cosby. Some came forward after a suburban Philadelphia prosecutor declined to file criminal charges over Constand's police complaint.

A comedian this year referenced the accusations anew in a performance, prompting some of the suit's Jane Doe witnesses to reveal their names and other women to raise new accusations.

Meanwhile, The University of Massachusetts-Amherst has cut ties with alumnus Cosby in light of the allegations

A university spokesperson told the Boston Globe on Wednesday university officials had asked Cosby to step down as an honourary co-chairman of their $300 million fundraising campaign and Cosby agreed.

Cosby received a master's degree and a doctorate in education from the university. He and his wife donated several hundred thousand dollars to the university.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley sent a letter to the university urging it to cut ties with Cosby.

Coakley says while Cosby hadn't been criminally charged, his association sends the wrong message when the state is focused on the prevention of campus sexual assault.

Cosby's lawyer has called the allegations "unsubstantiated" and "discredited." - Sapa-AP

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