A new lawsuit claims that Les Moonves pocketed over $50 million from the sale of his personal stock in CBS after learning that he was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Hollywood Reporter was the first to report this and the claim that Moonves pocketed just over $155 million in his final two years as head the network from selling stock.
Both of those claims are being made by Gee Samit, who has filed a lawsuit against CBS Corporation, Moonves and acting CEO Joseph Ianniello, who sold $29 million of his own stock as well between 2016 and 2018 according to an amended court filing.
'By late 2017, Defendants were aware that Farrow was investigating and writing an article on CBS, defendant Moonves and the Company’s culture of sexual harassment,' states the complaint.
'Defendants knew that the publication of this article could have a negative impact on the Company and its continuing operations yet they failed to disclose it in their SEC filings.'
The suit is demanding compensatory damages.
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Lone ranger: Les Moonves cashes out over $155 million of his personal stock in that time, including over $55 million while he was under police investigation
It is not just Moonves and Ianniello who are singled out in the lawsuit.
'CBS has in place clear policies and procedures relating to CBS stock sales by senior executives of the company. Executives who possess material information about CBS that has not been made public may not use that information in selling CBS stock,' said the company in a statement.
'The vast majority of sales mentioned in this complaint were made as part of pre-planned selling arrangements designed to comply with applicable securities laws.
'The remaining sales were subject to CBS’ customary pre-clearance policies and procedures and were properly disclosed. While it would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing litigation, we believe that our policies and procedures are fully in compliance with law.'
Moonves is currently challenging the decision made by the CBS board to withhold his $120 million severance package.
'Also as previously reported, pursuant to the separation agreement between the Company and Mr. Moonves dated September 9, 2018, any dispute with respect to the determination of whether the Company has grounds to terminate the employment of Mr. Moonves for cause is subject to binding arbitration in accordance with the provisions of the separation agreement if Mr. Moonves makes a demand for binding arbitration within a specified period following the date on which the Board of Directors gives Mr. Moonves notice of the cause termination,' read an EC filing submitted by the company on Wednesday.
'On January 16, 2019, Mr. Moonves notified the Company of his election to demand binding arbitration with respect to this matter. The Company does not intend to comment further on this matter during the pendency of the arbitration proceedings.'
The disgraced executive was set to walk away with a $120 million golden parachute if an investigation into his allegations of sexual misconduct found that there were not grounds to terminate him for cause.
Moonves would have also received a additional $65 million from vesting of long-term
