On Tuesday, the Los Angles Times reported that the Los Angeles County district attorney will not pursue sex crime charges related to complaints made by a woman against CBS CEO and chairman Les Moonves.
The alleged incidents took place in the mid-’80s, and will not result in charges because the statute of limitations on each sexual abuse claim has expired. An unidentified woman reported the accusations to the Los Angeles Police Department last year, accusing Moonves of sexual assault, assault and battery, and exposing himself, according to prosecutors.
These events were alleged to have occurred in July 1986 and January 1988. The district attorney’s office said on Tuesday that the allegations included one of forced oral sex. In their official declination of charges, obtained by the LA Times, prosectors wrote, “Victim encountered suspect through her employment in the television industry. Victim has reported multiple incidents of assault by the suspect. Victim disclosed the second two incidents to a friend approximately a year before making report to law enforcement.”
Sources familiar with the investigation told the LA Times that the woman worked with Moonves in the late ’80s (he was an executive at the TV production company Lorimar at the time).
Last week, the New Yorker published an exposé in which six women accused Moonves of sexual harassment and said their careers were negatively impacted when they rejected his advances. According to the LA Times, it’s not clear whether the woman whose accusations the LAPD was investigating was featured in the New Yorker article. Moonves issued the following statement in response to last week’s explosive report:
“I recognize that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances. Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely. But I always understood and respected—and abided by the principle—that ‘no’ means ‘no,’ and I have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career.”
On Monday, CBS announced that its board was “in the process of selecting outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation” of Moonves.