Cosby accuser asks for entire deposition to be made public

[July 09, 2015]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Canadian woman at the center of sexual assault allegations against comedian Bill Cosby accused him on Wednesday of violating a confidentiality agreement in their 2005 lawsuit, and asked a court to make public his entire testimony.

Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, filed court papers in Pennsylvania district court, also accusing Cosby and his advisers of manipulating the media through interviews and statements about the slew of sex assault allegations against him.

The lawsuit was filed two days after a Pennsylvania judge unsealed testimony in Constand's 2005 civil lawsuit against Cosby, in which the actor said he had obtained Quaaludes with the intent of giving the sedatives to young women in order to have sex with them.

The case was settled in 2006 for an undisclosed sum and both Cosby and Constand signed confidentiality agreements. In the past year some 40 other women have come forward accusing the star of TV comedy series "The Cosby Show" of drugging and sexually assaulting them in incidents dating back decades.

Constand said in Wednesday's court filing that Cosby was questioned about other sexual allegations at the time and that the women involved had a right to hear what he said about them then and "a right to determine what if anything can be used as evidence in their respective cases."

Constand, a former basketball player from Toronto, asked the court to have Cosby's "entire deposition and settlement agreement released to the public."

She said that while she has remained silent, "Cosby himself has given a rather incoherent interview and used members of his family and others as surrogates to speak for him."

Cosby has never been criminally charged, and most of the allegations exceed the statute of limitations. His attorneys have consistently denied the accusations. They could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the Creative Artists Agency said on Wednesday the firm had parted ways with Cosby months ago, but she declined to say why.

Cosby has said little directly about the accusations, but he told the audience at one of his shows in Florida last year that he would not reply to "innuendos."

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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