Bill Cosby has reportedly responded to the news of his trial verdict, which found him liable for the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl in 1975 at the Playboy Mansion.
On Tuesday (21 June), a Santa Monica jury sided with Judy Huth, who is now 64, and delivered another major courtroom defeat to the former Cosby Show star, who has been sued by a string of women.
Huth was awarded $500,000 (£408,425).
Cosby’s representative Andrew Wyatt told TMZ that the comedian was relieved when he was told Huth wasn’t awarded any punitive damages, which would have cost him millions.
According to Wyatt, after the verdict was delivered Cosby said: “What? That’s all?” followed by a “Booyah!”
The Independent reached out to Cosby’s rep for comment. “I would not trust TMZ reporting,” they responded. “I cannot confirm that Mr Cosby said any such thing.”
The verdict comes a year after Cosby, 84, had a conviction for sexual assault thrown out by Pennsylvania’s top court and was freed from prison.
Cosby did not testify or attend the trial and has continued to deny the claim made against him, although his lawyers accepted he took Huth to the mansion and posed for a picture with her.
The jury heard that Huth met Cosby on the set of the movie Let’s Do It Again in California and several days later was invited to his tennis club with a friend.
She alleged that he gave her alcohol and then took them to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, where he forced her to perform a sex act on him.
Huth alleged that Cosby told her and the friend to say they were 19 if asked their ages by staff at the mansion.
The comedian, once known as “America’s Dad” for his role as Cliff Huxtable on the hit TV show, has been accused by dozens of women of sexual assaults going back five decades.
