After being fired from his position atop CBS last December, following myriad accusations of sexual misconduct that span decades, Les Moonves is getting back to work. According to the New York Times, the disgraced executive hung a new shingle in Los Angeles called Moon Rise Unlimited. It was registered on October 30, according to the California Secretary of State, and is described as an LLC focused on “entertainment services.” Moonves is designated as the manager, though that detail was listed in a separate filing. And that’s not all! Moonves also set up a pair of complementary ventures using the same very bold name. Per the Times:
Mr. Moonves also appears to have formed two related companies around the same time: Moon Rise Technologies, which it said in a filing planned to provide “streaming services and distribution,” and Moon Rise Productions, which it said planned to provide “film and television production” services.
Although Moonves stepped down from his position last September, after New Yorker and New York Times reports detailed alleged offenses ranging from harassment to assault by more than a dozen women, he was not officially fired by CBS until the company completed an investigation into the accusations. At that time, the company announced it had cause to fire Moonves — the board cited “willful and material misfeasance, violation of company policies and breach of his employment contract” — depriving him of his $120 million severance package.
The network, however, still had to pay the former president’s legal bills in his dispute with the company itself, thanks to a contract stipulation. According to the Times, CBS is also currently footing the bill for Mooves’s rent in his new office space, because his exit agreement specifies that “CBS must pay for Mr. Moonves’s ‘office services’ for no less than a year, even if the company fired him for cause.” Moonves has denied the claims against him, and is pursuing further legal action to recover his severance from CBS.