COMEDIAN Bill Cosby struck a deal with the National Enquirer in 2005 to give the tabloid an exclusive interview about a woman’s sexual-assault accusations after it promised to scrap an article about a second woman’s allegations, according to news reports on a newly unsealed deposition given by Cosby.

    Cosby described the deal under oath in a deposition in 2005 after he was sued by Andrea Constand, who accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her.

    Cosby agreed to discuss Constand’s allegations with the Enquirer if the tabloid agreed not to publish a damaging interview with Beth Ferrier, a former model who described previously unreported allegations of a similar nature, The New York Times reported.

    During the past few weeks, more than a dozen women have come forward with accusations that Cosby, 77, sexually assaulted them at some point in the past few decades. NBC and Netflix have since canceled planned projects with Cosby and promoters have pulled out of some of the dates on Cosby’s U.S. stand-up comedy tour.

    With most of the alleged attacks now more than 10 years in the past, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner is unlikely to face criminal charges due to statutes of limitations, said AFP.

    The allegations against Cosby date back to the 1960s, and the encounters took place in several U.S. states including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. In America, laws vary from state to state in terms of the gravity of the crime, the burden of proof, the length of the statutes of limitations and the possible punishments.

    Most of the allegations go back to the 1970s and 1980s. In the states involved, the statutes of limitations bar charges from being brought, except in Pennsylvania, where an alleged victim has 12 years to file a criminal complaint.

    In fact, the statutes of limitations have expired everywhere.(SD-Agencies)