Yesterday, Bill Cosby was charged with sexual assault following an investigation into a 2004 incident involving a woman named Andrea Constand.
It was a major development that many thought would never take place, as Cosby had previously been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 50 women without ever facing prosecution.
Now, the 78-year-old is facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charges against him.
While an ambitious DA in Pennsylvania is forcing Cosby to answer for his alleged assault against Constand at an even hosted by Temple University, Los Angeles police are also investigating the once-beloved comic over accusations that he molested Chloe Goins during a party at the Playboy Mansion in 2008.
That case could prove even more damaging to Cosby, as Goins was reportedly underage at the time of the incident.
However, it seems that Cosby’s legal team may have found a way for him to avoid ever setting foot in a courtroom for the Goins case.
According to TMZ, Goins seems to have dropped her civil suit against Cosby, which is likely an indication that she received a massive settlement in order to walk away.
Goins filed her suit on October 6, and under California state law, her lawyers then had 90 days in which to serve Cosby with a summons.
Now, as the deadline approaches, Cosby has yet to be served, and court papers indicate that there’s been no activity on the suit at all.
Legal experts believe not only that Goins was paid off, but that she likely signed a confidentiality agreement, which would almost certainly undermine the prosecution’s efforts to put Cosby behind bars.
Goins probably reached a deal with Cosby’s legal team several weeks ago, and as the majority of the other allegastions against him fall outside of the statute of limitations for sexual assault cases, the TV icon was probably beginning to think that he was in the clear.
So you can imagine his surprise when Montgomery County (PA) District Attorney District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman filed charges less than 48 hours before the deadline in the Andrea Constand case.
