Cosby lawyer calls accuser a ‘con artist’

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby’s lawyers began a combative defense of the entertainer at his sexual assault retrial Tuesday, portraying Cosby as the lonely victim of a desperate “con artist” with financial problems who was steadily working her famous mark for a big payday.

In his opening remarks, attorney Thomas Mesereau presented Cosby’s accuser, Andrea Constand, as a willful, greedy woman who took advantage of him.

“You are going to be asking yourself during this trial, ‘What does she want from Bill Cosby?’ and you already know the answer, “money, money and lots more money.”

Constand, 44, has accused Cosby, 80, of befriending her, winning her trust and plying her with gifts before drugging and sexually abusing her at his home near Philadelphia in 2004, when she was an employee of Temple University. Her account will be accompanied by testimony from five other women who say Cosby drugged and sexually abused them.

In the first trial, only one additional accuser was allowed to add her voice. That trial ended with a hung jury.

Mesereau said Cosby made the mistake of telling Constand his troubles, including about the death of his son, Ennis, who was murdered in 1997. The defense plans to call a Temple academic adviser who, Mesereau said, would testify that Constand told her years ago that she could make money by falsely claiming she had been molested by a prominent person.

Prosecutors have said Cosby paid Constand $3.38 million as part of a confidential settlement of a lawsuit in 2006.

A lawyer who represented Constand in the civil case, Dolores Troiani, called it a “disgrace” that the legal system permits a defense that deters women from coming forward.

Constand spoke with Cosby dozens of times after the alleged assault and waited more than a year before going to the police, but prosecution witness Dr. Barbara Ziv, a sexual assault expert, told jurors it is common for victims to be reluctant to go to police and normal for them to maintain contact.