A woman who says Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her in the early 1970s has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the comedian's public denials have defamed her.
Tamara Green, a California lawyer who says she met Cosby in 1969 or 1970 when she was an aspiring actress and model, initially came forward with her story almost a decade ago. He denied knowing her at the time.
Green alleges that Cosby solicited her to help raise money for a club he wanted to open,then gave her "red and gray pills" when she told him she didn't feel well during a lunch. Cosby later drove her to her apartment when she was feeling "weak, dizzy and woozy," according to the lawsuit filed in Massachusetts federal court.
Once inside, Cosby undressed her and himself, the suit charges. He touched her entire body and "digitally penetrated her," the court papers say. The suit goes on to allege that in an effort to stop the assault, she yelled, "You're going to have to kill me!" and Cosby stopped when she knocked over a table lamp.
Cosby left two $100-bills on a coffee table before he left, claims Green, who first told her story on the Today Show and in the Philadelphia Enquirer in 2005.
More than two dozen women have come forward accusing Cosby of sexually assaulting them in recent weeks. Cosby's representatives have maintained that the assault Green described “did not happen in any way, shape or form.”
On Nov. 19, Green wrote an essay for Entertainment Tonight in which she said she still sleeps in her clothes because of what Cosby allegedly did to her and noted that he has never been charged and the the statute of limitations has run out on almost of all the claims.
"I believe his predation has been stopped, but I am pleased to believe that he has suffered. He has not gone to jail, but he has not come out of this mess he made without pain. This is not the legacy he had in mind for himself," she wrote.
Green is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Cosby's attorney, Martin Singer, issued a statement about the suit on Wednesday. “We are very confident that we will prevail in this proceeding and we will pursue claims against the attorneys who filed this action,” it said.