Bill Cosby Suing Model Beverly Johnson For Defamation Over Sexual Assault Claims

Bill Cosby has filed a lawsuit against former super model Beverly Johnson for defamation in regard to her allegations of sexual assault against him.

Cosby Sues Beverly Johnson

Cosby’s lawyer, Monique Pressley, released a statement on Cosby’s behalf about the lawsuit on Twitter. The statement claims that the former sitcom star is suing Johnson for “false, malicious, opportunistic, and defamatory accusations that Mr. Cosby drugged her.” It adds that he is suing her for “defamation, defamation per se, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

The statement from Pressley goes into further detail, suggesting that Johnson has been lying about the sexual assault for attention and financial gain.

“Mr. Cosby states that he never drugged defendant and her story is a lie,” the statement reads. “The suit further states that defendant’s entirely fabricated accusations are nothing more than an opportunistic attempt to resuscitate her own career and benefit herself financially from the wave of media attention surrounding her false allegations against Mr. Cosby.”

Cosby is seeking “compensatory and punitive damages, a permanent injunction enjoining defendant from continuing to publish her defamatory statements, and an injunction requiring defendant to publicly issue a statement and press release retracting and correcting her defamatory statements, including removal of the chapter on Mr. Cosby from future distribution of defendant’s memoir and for unsold copies of the defendant’s memoir with the chapter on Mr. Cosby to be removed from circulation.”

My statement re @BillCosby lawsuit against Beverly Johnson filed today: pic.twitter.com/K78NaIXbjk

— Monique Pressley (@MoniquePressley) December 21, 2015

Johnson has since responded to the statement on the lawsuit, maintaining that Cosby abused her and standing up for fellow victims of such assaults.

“I am aware of the statements from Bill Cosby,” Johnson said in a statement to People magazine. “In cases of rape and abuse, abusers will do whatever they can to intimidate and weaken their victims to force them to stop fighting. I ask for your support of all of the victims involved.”

In addition to Johnson, Cosby has sued Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie.