Updated at 10.54pm
THREE WOMEN WHO claim they were victimised by Bill Cosby have appeared at a press conference in Los Angeles called by attorney Gloria Allred.
Two of the women have never spoken before about their alleged experiences with Cosby.
A third woman was prepared to testify against to support another woman’s 2005 lawsuit claiming sexual assault by Cosby in Pennsylvania. Cosby settled that lawsuit before it went to trial.
Addressing the cameras, Allred proposed two options whereby the veteran comedian could address the claims against him.
She said he could waive the statutes of limitation preventing the claimants from bringing their claims to court.
Alternatively, Allred said, Cosby could place $100 million in a fund, and the women could make their cases before retired judges. The judges would act as arbitrators — deciding whether claimants should be awarded money.
Women
Of the three women who appeared at today’s press conference, Beth Ferrier and a woman by the name of Chelan recalled similar accounts of allegedly being drugged and raped by Cosby.
Another woman, Helen Hayes, claimed she was sexually harrassed by the comedian in the 1970s.
Both Ferrier and Chelan claimed to be aspiring actresses and models taken advantage of by Cosby.
Chelan claimed she blacked out after Cosby gave her a blue pill at the age of 17.
“13 to 16 hours later I woke up by hearing Mr. Cosby clapping his hands and saying, ‘Daddy says wake up.’ He gave me $1,500,” she said.
Ferrier said she was drugged and assaulted during an affair that went on for “several months” in the 1980s.
Ferrier previously came forward telling her story to the National Enquirer after passing a lie detector test. The story never ran after the publication struck a deal with Cosby to not publish the piece in exchange for an interview with the comedian.
At the time, Cosby was involved in a 2005 lawsuit with another woman, Andrea Constrand, who accused him of sexual assault.
Cosby agreed to speak with the National Enquirer about Constrand’s accusations. Ferrier was referenced in the lawsuit as a Jane Doe.
The third woman, Hayes, claims she met Cosby at Clint Eastwood’s Celebrity Tennis Tournament in Pebble Beach, California in 1973. She said Cosby followed her and her two friends all day before approaching her and grabbing her breast.
In his latest statement on the continuing claims against the performer, issued last week, Cosby’s lawyer said the allegations had “escalated far past the point of absurdity”.
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