LAPD cover-up of claims against ex-CBS boss Moonves highlights challenges for abuse victims
LOS ANGELES — For two decades, Leslie Moonves was the toast of Hollywood — the maestro who turned a moribund CBS into "America's most-watched network."
But the #MeToo movement brought him down. Engulfed in a sexual abuse scandal, the CBS chief was forced out in September 2018, nearly a year after Harvey Weinstein became a pariah when dozens of women came forward with assault and rape allegations.
On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report revealing the lengths to which Moonves and his lieutenants, attorneys and a high-level Los Angeles Police Department captain went to keep the executive in power. The group conspired for months to conceal damaging reports of alleged sexual abuse that they knew would destroy his career, according to the report. Even several CBS board members, who were aware of the abuse allegations, maintained support for the television titan.
"The police cover-up, that was shocking," said Jim Gottlieb, the son of the accuser who went to the LAPD in 2017 to report a decades-old sexual assault.
The revelations also stunned attorneys, victims'
