Media

Report: CBS Employee Was ‘On Call’ To Perform Oral Sex On CEO Les Moonves

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
Font Size:

An explosive new report threatens a hefty severance payment for former CBS CEO Les Moonves, who is now accused of having an employee “on call” to perform oral sex on him and lying to CBS investigators.

Moonves resigned in September after at least a dozen women said Moonves had subjected them to harassment, had forced them to perform oral sex on him, exposed himself, and used physical violence and intimidation against them. (RELATED: CBS’ Les Moonves Resigning Just Hours After Explosive New Sexual Misconduct Allegations)

LAS VEGAS, NV - AUGUST 26: CBS Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves arrives for T-Mobile's Showtime, WME IME and Mayweather Promotions VIP Pre-Fight Party for Mayweather vs. McGregor at T-Mobile Arena on August 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Showtime)

LAS VEGAS, NV – AUGUST 26: CBS Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves arrives for T-Mobile’s Showtime, WME IME and Mayweather Promotions VIP Pre-Fight Party for Mayweather vs. McGregor at T-Mobile Arena on August 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Showtime)

CBS’s board of directors began investigating the allegations after initial reports, but there was a possibility Moonves could still walk away with settlement exceeding $100 million. That payout seems increasingly unlikely after The New York Times reported that Moonves attempted to silence his accusers, destroyed evidence, and lied to investigators.

The new allegations are all detailed in a 59-page draft report by investigators, who are attempting to show that Moonves violated the terms of his employment agreement, allowing CBS to fire him for cause and withhold a large severance payment.

“Based on the facts developed to date, we believe that the board would have multiple bases upon which to conclude that the company was entitled to terminate Moonves for cause,” the report says.

When talking to Moonves about the allegations, investigators say they found him to be “evasive and untruthful at times and to have deliberately lied about and minimized the extent of his sexual misconduct.”

In the course of their probe, investigators also learned of additional allegations against Moonves, pushing the total of accusers up to 17. In addition to engaging in “transactional” sex that would violate the company’s sexual harassment policy, Moonves allegedly had an employee “who was ‘on call’ to perform oral sex.”

“A number of employees were aware of this and believed that the woman was protected from discipline or termination as a result of it,” the report alleges.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 1: (L-R) Julie Chen and Les Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corporation, arrive at the Washington National Cathedral for the funeral service for the late Senator John McCain, September 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush are set to deliver eulogies for McCain in front of the 2,500 invited guests. McCain will be buried on Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 1: (L-R) Julie Chen and Les Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corporation, arrive at the Washington National Cathedral for the funeral service for the late Senator John McCain, September 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush are set to deliver eulogies for McCain in front of the 2,500 invited guests. McCain will be buried on Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The investigators’ report also alleges that at least one CBS board member and communications head Gil Schwartz mishandled sexual misconduct allegations. A now-deceased CBS board member is said to have known about at least one allegation against Moonves, but declined to tell other board members and publicly defended Moonves. Meanwhile, Schwartz apparently learned about an allegation in late 2017 and drafted a resignation letter for Moonves that was never signed.

Moonves denies having any non-consensual sexual encounters. CBS declined to comment to the NYT.

The draft report was created by investigators in November and could still be edited before it is presented to the CBS board next week.

“No findings have been reported to the board. The board has reached no conclusions on this matter,” a spokesman for the investigators said in a statement Tuesday. “The investigators and the board are committed to a thorough and fair process.”

Follow Amber on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel