Paramount Global Settles Shareholders' Les Moonves Class-Action

Les Moonves

Paramount Global has agreed to pay $14.75 million to shareholders of the former CBS Corp in a proposed class action claiming the company's failure to disclose sexual misconduct allegations against former CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves artificially inflated the value of its stock.

Reuters reports lawyers for Paramount, Moonves and the plaintiffs filed a proposed settlement agreement in Manhattan federal court on Friday. CBS and Moonves had denied that they misled investors.

CBS merged with sister company Viacom Inc in December 2019. The merged company was called ViacomCBS until February, when it changed its name to Paramount Global. read more

Amid the #MeToo movement, more than a dozen women accused Moonves of harassment and intimidation, including exposing himself and pressuring women for sex. Moonves has denied wrongdoing and said the relationships were consensual.

Moonves resigned under pressure in September 2018; that December CBS said it had fired him for cause and denied a $120 million severance package, following a board review of the findings of an investigation into Moonves’ behavior and the CBS culture conducted by two law firms hired by CBS.

A group of shareholders sued in 2018. They accused CBS and Moonves of misleading investors by not initially disclosing allegations against him and making public statements in support of #MeToo.