Comedian Bill Cosby paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault $3.38 million as part of a 2006 settlement of a civil lawsuit, prosecutors said on Monday in the opening of his retrial on criminal charges stemming from the same accusations.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County revealed the payout for the first time in their opening statement of Cosby’s second criminal trial, almost a year after a different jury failed to reach a verdict, prompting a mistrial.
Andrea Constand, 44, has accused the once-beloved father from “The Cosby Show” of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2004. She is one of more than 50 women to level similar accusations against Cosby.
A protester is escorted out by the police after breaking through the barriers, as actor and comedian Bill Cosby arrives for the first day of his sexual assault retrial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, US, April 9, 2018 PHOTO ।। REUTERS
Her case is the only one that has resulted in criminal prosecution because the others were too old under the statute of limitations.
Cosby, 80, has said all of the encounters were consensual. If convicted of aggravated indecent assault, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
