Ex-CBS CEO Les Moonves fined for getting intel on sex assault allegations

Les Moonves agreed to pay a $15,000 fine to the City of Los Angeles for illegally obtaining confidential information about an LAPD investigation into sexual assault allegations that were leveled against CBS’ former top executive.

Moonves, who ran the Tiffany Network for 15 years before he resigned in disgrace in September 2018, was forced to pay the maximum penalty issued by the LA City Ethics Commission, which voted 4-0 to approve the fine.

The vote came two months after the commission rejected Moonves’ request to get off with an $11,5230 fine, arguing at the time that the sum did not match the egregious nature of the violation, Variety earlier reported.

The fine paid Wednesday settles allegations that were initially made in November 2017 — at the height of the #MeToo movement — by former TV executive Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, who walked into the Hollywood LAPD station to report that Moonves had assaulted her in the 1980s.

Just hours later, Cory Palka, the since-retired commander of the police department’s Hollywood division, notified a CBS senior vice president of the situation.

Palka — who also worked as a private security guard for Moonves for many years when the CBS chief would attend the Grammy Awards — provided television network execs with Golden-Gottlieb’s confidential police report the following day.

In the weeks since Golden-Gottlieb madCory Palkae her allegations, Palks met with Moonves at a restaurant to discuss the case, assuring him that he likely wouldn’t be prosecuted at at one point even telling Mooves that his “allegiance” lied with the CBS chief, according to Variety.

A year later, Moonves resigned from CBS after at least 12 women, including Golden-Gottlieb, who went public with her accusations in 2018, accused him of sexually assaulting them.

Some of the other accusers said Moonves forced sex acts on them while others said he retaliated professionally when they rejected his advances.

Moonves has denied all the allegations, but an independent investigation from the Ethics Commission found that the disgraced CEO responsible for three violations of the city ethics code, per Variety, including charges of aiding and abetting the release of confidential information and inducing another person to misuse their position.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation.

In February, Moonves attempted to reduce the penalty, arguing that he had cooperated with the investigation — but the commission unanimously rejected the $11,5230 settlement proposal.

Moonves, along with CBS — now part of Paramount Global — was separately ordered by New York Attorney General Letitia James to pay $30.5 million for insider trading and covering up multiple sexual assault allegations against Moonves.

CBS was responsible for redistributing $22 million to its shareholders while Moonves was required to cough up $2.5 million for investors.

James also demanded that CBS spend $6 million to reform its Human Resources practices regarding sexual harassment and must provide biannual reports to the attorney general’s office. 

Ian Metrose, the CBS vice president who acted as an intermediary between Palka and Moonves, also attempted to strike a $2,500 settlement with the commission, Variety reported.

Commission staff also struck down Metrose’s proposal, but they have yet to reach a revised settlement with the former CBS VP, who left the company in 2023.