CBS to pay most of $30 million for insider trading related to Leslie Moonves sexual assault allegation | Radio-Canada News

CBS and its former president, Leslie Moonves, will pay US$30.5 million as part of a settlement with the New York attorney general’s office, which claims network executives conspired with a police captain from Los Angeles to cover up sexual assault allegations against Moonves.

Under the agreement announced by Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday, the streaming giant is required to pay $22 million to shareholders and an additional $6 million for sexual harassment and assault programs. Moonves will have to pay $2.5 million, all of which will benefit shareholders who the attorney general says were initially kept in the dark about the allegations.

At least one of those executives — one of the few privy to an internal investigation — sold nearly $9 million worth of stock before the allegations against Moonves became public, which the office says of the Attorney General, amounted to insider trading. He was identified as CBS senior executive vice president and chief communications officer Gil Schwartz.

In November 2017, a woman told police she was sexually assaulted by Moonves in the 1980s, before he was employed by CBS in 1995, according to the attorney general’s report. She also said she was the victim of sexual misconduct and retaliation in the workplace.

Accuser discouraged from going public

In a document outlining the findings of its investigation, the attorney general’s office detailed an alleged scheme by an unnamed Los Angeles police captain to try to cover up the allegations against Moonves.

Several hours after making his police report — which was marked “confidential” in three places — the captain notified CBS, he added, adding that the captain then met personally with Moonves and another CBS executive. The captain, he added, ordered officers investigating the complaint to “warn” the woman not to speak to the media with her allegations. He also put them in touch with the lead investigator.

When the allegations finally became public anyway and Moonves resigned, the captain sent a note to a CBS contact saying, “We’ve worked so hard to try to avoid this day.”

The attorney general’s office said it discovered text messages between the police captain, CBS executives and Moonves that showed efforts to keep the complaint from becoming public.

The Los Angeles Police Department later identified the captain as Cory Palka, who retired at the rank of major last year after 34 years with the department. He had been commander of the Hollywood division for more than three years. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday.

The captain first informed CBS officials of the sexual misconduct allegation by calling the network’s senior vice president of talent relations and special events, who was identified by the court document as Ian Metrose. .

Metrose previously hired the captain as one of Moonves’ security assistants at the Grammy Awards from 2008 to 2014, the document states.

“I know we haven’t spoken in a while. I’m a captain at LAPD Hollywood,” the police captain told Metrose in a voicemail, according to the attorney general’s office. “Someone walked into the station about a few hours ago and made sexual assault allegations against your boss. It’s confidential, as you know, but give me a call, and I can give you some details. and let you know what the allegation is before it goes to the media or comes out.”

LAPD appalled by allegations

An email sent to Metrose was not immediately returned on Wednesday. And an attorney representing CBS and Moonves did not immediately return a request for comment.

The LAPD said Wednesday it was investigating the captain’s conduct and was cooperating with New York officials.

“What is most appalling is the alleged breach of trust of a sexual assault victim, who is among the most vulnerable, by a member of the LAPD. It erodes public trust and does not reflect our values ​​as an organization,” said chief Michel Moore.

Moonves resigned from CBS on September 9, 2018, amid complaints from multiple women about alleged sexual misconduct. Some accusers claimed that Moonves forced them to perform oral sex.

Moonves admitted having affairs with three of the women, but said they were consensual. He denied attacking anyone, saying in a statement at the time that: “False allegations from decades ago are now being leveled against me.”

The New Yorker magazine reported at the time that at least one of the women, a television executive, had filed a criminal complaint with the Los Angeles police.

The Los Angeles County prosecutor declined to press charges against Moonves in 2018.

A spokesperson for Paramount Global, owner of CBS, said Wednesday it was “pleased to resolve this matter … without any admission of liability or wrongdoing,” adding that “the matter involves alleged misconduct by the ‘former CEO of CBS, who was fired for cause’. in 2018, and bears no relation to today’s society.”