CBS boss resigns amid new sexual misconduct charges

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Leslie Moonves, the top executive at CBS Corp since 2006 and a major figure at the broadcast network and media company for more than two decades, resigned on Sunday amid a new wave of allegations against him of sexual assault and harassment.

The announcement came after six more women accused Moonves of sexual assault and harassment in a report published on Sunday in the New Yorker magazine, while CBS has reached an exit agreement with him.

All six of the women were named in the article including "Goodfellas" actress Illeana Douglas.

The newly disclosed incidents, which the women said occurred between the 1980s and early 2000s, included claims of forced sex, Moonves exposing himself and his alleged use of physical violence and intimidation.

The New Yorker reported that these women said Moonves also retaliated after they rebuffed him, damaging their careers.

Protesters park a billboard truck outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel urging the CBS to fire its chief executive Leslie Moonves after alleged sexual harassment accusations against him, August 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

Moonves, who turned CBS from an aging radio and TV broadcaster into a successful provider of shows to digital platforms, was expected to reap an estimated $100 million in severance.

But the 68-year-old, could end up with nothing pending an investigation into the allegations of violence against women conducted by law firms hired by an independent committee of the CBS board of directors.

CBS has claimed that the company and it's outgoing CEO will donate 20 million US dollars of Moonves' severance to organizations supporting the #MeToo movement, which has brought down powerful men in Hollywood, corporate America and politics over accusations of sexual misconduct.

(Cover: CBS President Leslie Moonves arrives for a premiere in Los Angeles, January 19, 2010. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters