More women join Cosby defamation suit

Four more women who claim Bill Cosby sexually abused them say they want compensation, saying it's hard for them to lead normal lives.

entertainer Bill Cosby

Four more women have joined a lawsuit against Bill Cosby claiming the comedian sexually abused them. (AAP)

Four more women have joined a federal lawsuit against Bill Cosby, claiming the comedian sexually abused them and later defamed them by letting his representatives labelling their stories lies.

Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis, Louisa Moritz and Angela Leslie join three women already named in the civil suit - Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, and Linda Traitz.

The women say they want compensation after they say Cosby and his representatives tarnished their reputations and made it hard for them to lead normal lives.

They are among dozens of women who have alleged that Cosby, now 78, molested them decades ago. Cosby has denied some of the allegations and has never been charged with a crime.

"There's no reason that any of the victims of this situation should have to live with a scarlet letter in their lives," Bowman, an Arizona resident, said in a conference call on Friday. "I am not a liar. I am a truth-teller."

Bowman alleges Cosby won her trust when she was a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, then sexually assaulted her multiple times.

Tarshis, who alleges Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 1969 when she was 19, agreed adding that she's been publicly ridiculed for coming forward.

Moritz is an actress who alleges Cosby sexually assaulted her in a dressing room for The Tonight Show in 1969. Leslie, of Michigan, claims Cosby assaulted her when she met with him in his Las Vegas suite in 1992.

Friday's development comes after a New Hampshire woman filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Cosby earlier this week in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the seven women's lawsuit is also playing out.


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Source: AAP



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