ViacomCBS said it has settled its dispute with former CBS chairman and CEO Les Moonves and will not have to shell out a $120 million severance package that had been placed in a trust after his termination, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.
Moonves stepped down in 2018 after allegations that he had sexually harassed several women at the company.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but according to a joint statement from ViacomCBS and Moonves, the costs of the settlement will be borne by a CBS contractor and Moonves will "contribute the entire settlement amount to various charities."
Back in 2018 CBS said that Moonves had agreed to donate about $20 million of his severance to several organizations supporting the elimination of sexual harassment in the workplace.
The allegations were first outlined in a July 2018 piece in The New Yorker by Pulitzer Prize-winner Ronan Farrow, which said Moonves engaged in inappropriate behavior with several women including actress Illeana Douglas about 20 years ago. After that piece broke, several other women came forward, and in November of that year the New York Times reported that Moonves had paid a former accuser for years to keep her silence.
CBS immediately conducted an investigation into those allegations and concluded that while harassment and retaliations weren’t “pervasive” at the broadcaster, the probe found other instances of unprofessional conduct and determined that the company’s policies did not do enough to prevent harassment and retaliation.
Shortly after Moonves stepped down, CBS said it would not pay a $120 million severance package to the former executive because he was terminated for cause, pointing to the former executive's “willful and material misfeasance, violation of company policies and breach of his employment contract, as well as his willful failure to cooperate fully with the company’s investigation. Mr. Moonves will not receive any severance payment from the Company.”
Moonves fought that claim and filed for arbitration on Jan. 16, 2019 to get back the award.
In the Friday SEC filing, ViacomCBS said that the disputes between the company and Moonves have been resolved and that on May 14, the parties dismissed the arbitration proceeding, adding that the assets in the trust that held the $120 million severance package, “will revert to the company in their entirety.”
