CBS denies former CEO Leslie Moonves $120mn US severance

CBS Corp. said on Monday it will not pay Leslie Moonves a $120 million severance package as the media giant girds for a likely legal battle with its former chief executive, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault that allegedly took place before and after he joined the company.

Moonves stepped down in September following fresh claims he had sexually harassed or assaulted six more women.

He said that the accusations made in The New Yorker magazine were untrue.

The decision to deprive Moonves of his severance and terminate his employment for cause follows a board of directors review of the findings of an investigation into Moonves' behaviour conducted by two law firms, Debevoise & Plimpton and Covington & Burling, hired by CBS.

"We have determined that there are grounds to terminate for cause, including his willful and material misfeasance, violation of company policies and breach of his employment contract, as well as his willful failure to co-operate fully with the company's investigation," CBS's board of directors said in a statement that did not disclose details of the investigation.

At the time of Moonves' departure as chairman and chief executive at CBS, where he had worked for 23 years, the company said it had set $120mn aside as a possible payment to him pending an investigation.

Actress and writer Illeana Douglas, known for her roles in the films Goodfellas and Cape Fear, was one of the first women to speak publicly about an alleged sexual assault by Moonves.

In the first of two articles The New Yorker published on Moonves, Douglas said: "What happened to me was a sexual assault, and then I was fired for not participating."

The article also said there was a culture of harassment at CBS.

The 69-year-old was in charge of films and mini-series and then creative affairs at Lorimar Television in the late 1980s before becoming president