LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former CBS president and CEO Les Moonves has agreed to pay an $11,250 fine for violating the city's ethics code by using a now-retired Los Angeles Police Department official to cover up a sexual assault investigation against the then-executive, according to multiple media reports.
Moonves agreed to the settlement on Feb. 5 after the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission found that he tried to influence now-retired LAPD Captain Cory Palka amid the 2017 investigation, according to documents released Friday.
The commission order said Moonves admitted he "violated City law by aiding and abetting the disclosure and misuse of confidential information and by inducing a City official to misuse his position to attempt to create a private advantage" for himself, Variety reported.
The trade publication noted that Moonves' fine was higher the usual because the violations in his case were "extremely serious and deliberate."
Moonves has not publicly responded to media reports about the settlement.
The interactions with Palka first came to light in November 2022 when the New York Attorney General's office included the details in a report about how CBS officials intervened to prevent allegations of misconduct against Moonves from becoming public, getting to stock holders or affecting pending business transactions.
Palka, who was commanding officer of the Hollywood Division at the time and had worked as a security guard for Moonves, personally gave the former executive confidential information about the LAPD investigation into a complaint filed by a former employee in late 2017, the commission found.
The exchange came during a meeting at a restaurant in Westlake Village, the commission report said.
The complaint was filed by former TV executive Phyllis Golden- Gottlieb, alleging Moonves sexually assaulted her in 1986 when the two worked together at Lorimar Television. Golden-Gottlieb died in 2022 at age 86.
This and other allegations came amid the #metoo movement, which called attention to the sexual harassment and abuse of women in the workplace and led to the resignations of several high-profile people in media and entertainment, including Moonves.
Once considered the most powerful TV executive in the industry after heading CBS for more than two decades, Moonves was forced to step down in 2018 after at least a dozen women accused him of sexually assaulting them. Moonves has repeatedly denied these allegations.
Palka retired in 2021 after 34 years with the LAPD. Department officials announced an internal investigation into his conduct in the Moonves probe, but the status is unclear.