Paramount, the parent company of CBS, and former network Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves agreed to pay $9.75 million after a state investigation found the network and its senior leadership concealed accusations of sexual misconduct against Moonves and, in the case of one executive, engaged in insider trading related to the allegations.
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The media company declined to discuss details of the settlement, but the company did not have to make any payments.
After an exhaustive four-month investigation, the company’s board of directors in Dec. 2018 stripped Moonves of his $120-million severance over allegations of sexual misconduct.
The board had hired two firms in August 2018 Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton to investigate Moonves’ conduct and CBS’ corporate culture.
The firms were retained days after the New Yorker magazine published an investigation that detailed allegations of misconduct against the executive by multiple women. Moonves, who resigned under pressure in Sept. 2018, denied wrongdoing and contested the findings. He filed to have the matter resolved in arbitration, leading to the settlement announced Friday.