Bill Cosby faces new sexual assault charge by Playboy model who claims he tried to rape her
Bill Cosby has been sued in California by a former Playboy model who claims he raped her five decades ago.
Victoria Valentino, 80, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court under a new law that lifted the statute of limitations on civil assault cases.
Cosby, 85, was previously convicted in April 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting a basketball coach, Andrea Constand, in 2004.
He was sentenced to three to ten years in prison, but only served three years of his sentence before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction. He was released on June 30, 2021.
During his entertainment career, Cosby has been accused by at least 60 women of a slew of sex crimes, all of which he denies.
Bill Cosby has been sued in California by a former Playboy model who claims he raped her five decades ago
![Bill Cosby faces new sexual assault charge by Playboy model who claims he tried to rape her 2 Victoria Valentino filed suit Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court under a new law that lifted the statute of limitations on civil assault cases](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1685647531_879_Bill-Cosby-faces-new-sexual-assault-charge-by-Playboy-model.jpg)
Victoria Valentino filed suit Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court under a new law that lifted the statute of limitations on civil assault cases
![Bill Cosby faces new sexual assault charge by Playboy model who claims he tried to rape her 4 Victoria Valentino was chosen Playmate of the Month in 1969 at the age of 19](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1685647537_588_Bill-Cosby-faces-new-sexual-assault-charge-by-Playboy-model.jpg)
Victoria Valentino was chosen Playmate of the Month in 1969 at the age of 19
Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt told the Washington Post after the new lawsuit, “In my opinion, these women are not victims of sexual assault, they are victims of greed.”
The new California law, which has allowed Valentino to file her lawsuit, allows sexual assault accusers to seek damages — regardless of how long ago the alleged crimes occurred.
Valentino alleged that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1969 after they ran into each other at the Café Figaro restaurant in Los Angeles on Melrose Avenue. They had previously met at an acting audition.
Valentino says she cried over her six-year-old son’s recent drowning when Cosby approached her.
Valentino was having dinner with a friend at the time. He then paid for them to go to a Finnish spa, then took the pair to a Sunset Strip steakhouse for dinner, where he gave them both pills.
He is said to have said, ‘It will make you feel better. It will make ALL of us feel better.”
Cosby then drove them to an office, she alleges in the lawsuit, where she and her unnamed boyfriend passed out.
Valentino says she woke up, saw Cosby approaching her boyfriend and tried to protect her. But the lawsuit then claims that Cosby got angry and raped Valentino.
![Bill Cosby faces new sexual assault charge by Playboy model who claims he tried to rape her 6 Valentino attends a vigil for survivors who claimed Cosby assaulted them at Independence Hall on July 10, 2021](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1685647540_950_Bill-Cosby-faces-new-sexual-assault-charge-by-Playboy-model.jpg)
Valentino attends a vigil for survivors who claimed Cosby assaulted them at Independence Hall on July 10, 2021
![Bill Cosby faces new sexual assault charge by Playboy model who claims he tried to rape her 8 Cosby, center, celebrated after Pennsylvania's highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction](https://nybreaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1685647542_567_Bill-Cosby-faces-new-sexual-assault-charge-by-Playboy-model.jpg)
Cosby, center, celebrated after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction
Cosby has yet to respond to the new civil suit.
At the time of the incident, Valentino was a popular model and was known for her photo shoot with Playboy in 1963.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Valentino said: ‘It’s not about money, it’s about responsibility. Rape steals something from you that cannot be repaired or restored.
It affects everything in your life. It’s like a stone falling into a still pool and all those expanding ripples hitting shores you never imagined.”
The accuser, who lives in Arizona, first publicly discussed her rape allegations in 2014 and attended court in Pennsylvania during the trial that convicted Cosby.
After her alleged sexual assault in 1969, she moved to New Orleans and then to the Southwest, where she became a registered nurse.
Before filing the lawsuit this morning, Valentino told the Post that the scars of what she claims happened to her have stayed with her over the decades.
In December, five women, including two actors who appeared on The Cosby Show, filed a lawsuit in New York accusing Cosby of sexually assaulting them.
The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which took effect on Thanksgiving and gives adult survivors of sexual assault one year to sue their abusers, even if the statute of limitations on their claims has expired.
The plaintiffs named the actor, Kaufman Astoria Studios Inc., The Carsey-Werner Company and NBCUniversal Media as defendants in the 34-page lawsuit filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court.
The Cosby Show, which ran from 1984 to 1992 on NBC, was filmed at studios now controlled by Kaufman Astoria and produced by Carsey-Werner, according to the civil suit.
All of the defendants are “guilty and liable because they knew and/or should have known that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted, assaulted and/or assaulted women, including on their turf, but did nothing to stop it,” the indictment said.
Wyatt called the civil suit “frivolous” and accused plaintiffs of seeking a payout.
“We believe that both the courts and public opinion will follow the rules of law and acquit Mr. Cosby of these alleged charges,” Wyatt said in a statement.
“Mr. Cosby continues to strongly deny all allegations against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”