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Ex-NBC producer, former CNN exec sexually assaulted intern
during Olympics: suit
By Matthew Sedacca, NYPost
June 24, 2023 11:23am Updated
Michael Bass was accused by Aarthi Rajaraman, a former NBC intern, of sexually assaulting her while they were covering the 1996 Olympics.
A former NBC college intern claims that a media honcho who most recently served as a top executive at CNN sexually assaulted her while they were covering the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, according to a shocking new lawsuit.
Aarthi Rajaraman, now 47, claims that during a three-week stint as a NBC production assistant, Michael Bass — then a “Today” show coordinating producer assigned to Olympics coverage — lured her to a hotel room and assaulted her, according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday, which also names the network’s parent company, NBC/Universal Media.
Numerous senior NBC employees had been fooling around with younger staffers at the time, Rajaraman claimed in the suit.
In July 1996, Rajaraman, at the time a 20-year-old college sophomore, was heading home at 5 a.m. following dinner and drinks with Bass and their team when she needed to use the bathroom.
Rajaraman claims she was “tricked” by her boss to go use the toilet in his hotel suite, where she believed his wife and newborn were staying, according to court papers.
But she soon realized she was alone with her boss in the hotel room as Bass “began kissing and groping her without her consent” before “putting his hands up her shirt and down her skirt,” according to court documents.
Later that day, Bass, then known as a “superstar” and “up and comer” at NBC, called and threatened Rajamaran, saying “Don’t tell anyone,” the suit alleges.
Rajaraman brought her lawsuit against Michael Bass under New York’s Adult Survivors Act.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Bass would go on to roles as senior executive producer for CBS News’ morning shows, and until last year, CNN’s executive vice president of programming, where he also served as interim co-head of the network following the ouster of former president Jeff Zucker.
In retaliation for Rajaraman rejecting his advances, her former boss “blackballed” her, pulling strings to ensure she was rejected from multiple job opportunities in New York City, according to the suit.
Rajaraman has since worked with a range of networks and outlets since her internship, including CNN, HBO and CBS, according to an online biography.
The suit has been brought under the Adult Survivors Act, passed by New York state lawmakers in 2022, which gives adult victims of sexual abuse a one-year period — ending in November — to file civil suits that previously were outside of the statute of limitations.
“Today, we celebrate the Adult Survivors Act, which has given my client the opportunity to seek justice for the alleged assault that she suffered,” said Rajaraman’s attorney, Meagan Goddard.
Rajaraman, who declined to comment through her attorney, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages “commensurate with that life-altering trauma that she experienced in 1996.”
An NBC spokesperson said the company is reviewing the complaint.
Bass did not respond to requests for comment.
Footballer Benjamin Mendy faces UK retrial for alleged sex offences
French footballer Benjamin Mendy will return to a UK courtroom Monday
for the start of his retrial for two alleged sexual offences,
five months after a jury cleared him of multiple other counts.
Issued on: 26/06/2023 - 06:00
Modified: 26/06/2023 - 09:17
2 min
Text by: NEWS WIRES
Manchester City player Mendy will face one count of rape and one of attempted rape.
© Lindsey Parnaby / AFP
Manchester City player Mendy, 28, will be back in the dock at Chester Crown Court in northwest England to face one count of rape and one of attempted rape.
Jurors in his last trial, which ended in January, failed to reach verdicts on the two charges involving two different women.
The panel of seven men and four women had cleared the defender of six other counts of rape and one of sexual assault against four women following a six-month trial.
Isn't that astonishing? 8 charges, 6 women, and he's not found guilty of any of them? He must have a real good lawyer.
The judge in January had immediately set a new trial date of Monday for the two counts on which the jury did not return a verdict.
Mendy, whose contract with Manchester City expires at the end of this month and is reportedly not set to be renewed, has denied all the charges filed against him.
As the not-guilty verdicts were read out in court in January, Mendy covered his face with both hands, gently rocking back and forth.
Jenny Wiltshire, one of his lawyers, said at the time that the footballer was "delighted" that he had been acquitted of most of the charges he faced.
She added at the time that he looked forward to "clearing his name in relation to the other two charges so he can start rebuilding his life".
'Predator' accusations
Mendy was accused alongside Louis Saha Matturie, 41, an alleged "fixer", who was found not guilty by the jury of three counts of rape relating to two teenagers.
Same lawyer?
Jurors also failed to reach verdicts on three counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault against Matturie by five other women.
He faces a separate retrial later this year.
The prosecution had alleged that Mendy was a sexual "predator" who raped or sexually assaulted young women procured by Matturie at parties at his luxury home south of Manchester.
Mendy denied ever forcing any woman into sex and both said any sexual activity they had with women was consensual.
Mendy joined Manchester City from French club Monaco in 2017. He has played 75 times for City, but his playing time was limited by injuries and a loss of form.
He has not played since August 15, 2021 – days before he was hit with an initial charge of four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
The last of his 10 caps for France came in November 2019, after the defender won the World Cup in 2018.
(AFP)
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