Former CBS President Leslie Moonves pays $15,000 to settle a Los Angeles metropolis ethics criticism over his position in an alleged cover-up of sexual assault accusations towards him.
The town’s Ethics Fee unanimously permitted the settlement Wednesday after beforehand rejecting a proposal for $11,250 in fines as too low.
Below the settlement, along with paying the $15,000, Moonves admitted that he violated metropolis legislation by interfering with a police investigation into the sexual assault allegations.
Representatives for Moonves didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The allegations involving the LAPD and Moonves have drawn comparisons to “L.A. Confidential,” the James Ellroy novel and subsequent film, through which corrupt cops shield highly effective figures.
Then-Police Capt. Cory Palka allegedly labored with Moonves and different CBS executives to bury a criticism made to the LAPD by a former colleague, Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, alleging that Moonves had sexually assaulted her within the Eighties, in accordance with the ethics criticism.
Palka, who has since retired, was then head of the division’s Hollywood station and nicknamed “Capt. Hollywood” due to his hobnobbing with celebrities. He had identified Moonves for almost a decade after working Moonves’ safety element for the Grammy Awards.
Palka didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Moonves’ profession as head of CBS ultimately collapsed amid a widening intercourse scandal that got here to mild as a part of the #MeToo motion. Moonves, who stepped down from CBS in September 2018, has denied harassing or assaulting girls.
The ethics criticism detailed how on Nov. 10, 2017, Golden-Gottlieb drove to the Hollywood station and filed a report towards Moonves for the alleged sexual assault that occurred a long time in the past.
Later that evening, Palka known as CBS officers and alerted them to Golden-Gottlieb’s report, the criticism stated.
Golden-Gottlieb, who died in 2022, has alleged that Moonves invited her to lunch, then parked on a facet avenue, forcibly grabbed her head and slammed it into his crotch earlier than ejaculating into her mouth.
Over the following few weeks, Palka, Moonves and considered one of Moonves’ subordinates mentioned methods to thwart Golden-Gottlieb’s report and labored to verify it didn’t acquire traction throughout the Police Division or the L.A. County district legal professional’s workplace, in accordance with information that got here to mild in late 2022 as a part of a report by New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James.
James had accused Moonves and CBS of deceptive buyers concerning the scope of the sexual harassment uncovered at CBS — info that was damaging to the corporate’s inventory.
L.A. Metropolis Ethics Fee investigators, in their very own case towards Moonves, accused the CBS chief of three violations of the town’s Authorities Ethics Ordinance. Moonves aided and abetted the disclosure and misuse of confidential metropolis info and induced Palka to misuse his metropolis place, the investigators stated.
The $15,000 nice permitted Wednesday was the utmost allowed, with every rely carrying a most penalty of $5,000.
Ethics Fee employees labored with Moonves to agree on the proposed nice, nevertheless it nonetheless wanted approval by the Ethics Fee, the volunteer panel that oversees the division.
Gloria Allred, an legal professional representing Golden-Gottlieb’s kids, stated in a press release that metropolis legislation needs to be modified to permit “extra vital punishments sooner or later for ethics violations.”
The assertion additionally demanded a proper apology from the town and criticized the Ethics Fee for not talking to the kids, Cathy Weiss and Jim Gottlieb, concerning the impression on their mom.
“Whereas it’s a optimistic signal that the Los Angeles Metropolis Ethics Fee imposed the utmost nice towards Les Moonves, sadly, that nice continues to be minimal and doesn’t serve to discourage others or punish Mr. Moonves in any vital method,” the assertion stated.
Jamie York, president of the Reseda Neighborhood Council and a proponent for reforms, together with greater fines for ethics violations, thanked the Ethics Fee for “standing up” and rejecting the decrease nice.
At Wednesday’s assembly, she informed the panel that the nice “doesn’t get wherever close to the injury that was accomplished, however not less than you’ve despatched the message that one thing that’s egregious can’t be ignored and shouldn’t be ignored.”
The Metropolis Council is a proposal to double penalties for violations of the ethics code and recoup the price of investigations. Will probably be heard Thursday by a committee.
Then-LAPD Chief Michel Moore stated final 12 months that his division would conduct an inner investigation and work with the county district legal professional and state legal professional basic on the case.
The Ethics Fee on Wednesday additionally permitted a number of settlements for violations of a legislation that requires lobbyists to register with the town and report lobbying actions.
Amongst those that agreed to pay fines was onetime high-level mayoral aide Rick Jacobs, who admitted that he did not report lobbying exercise associated to his consumer, Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, which is now generally known as the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters.
Jacobs agreed to pay $12,500 in fines.
A former advisor to former Mayor Eric Garcetti, Jacobs was accused a number of years in the past by an LAPD officer of sexual harassment, which Jacobs denied. The police officer sued the town over Jacobs’ alleged habits, leading to a $1.8-million settlement final 12 months.
Instances employees author Meg James contributed to this report.
