Bill Cosby admitted to drugging women to have sex, rape accusers say they are vindicated

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Several women who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and raping them are saying newly unsealed testimony by the comedian in a 2005 case corroborates their claims.

Cosby admitted to acquiring quaaludes with the intent of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with, and giving the drug to several women, in testimony for a sexual-abuse case filed by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.

In documents obtained by The Associated Press, Cosby said he obtained seven quaalude prescriptions in the 1970s. Constand's lawyer asked if he had kept the sedatives through the 1990s, after they were banned, but was frustrated by objections from Cosby's attorney.

"When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?" Troiani asked.

"Yes," Cosby answered.

"Did you ever give any of these young women the quaaludes without their knowledge?" Troiani asked.

Cosby's lawyer again objected, leading Troiani to petition the federal judge to force Cosby to cooperate.

Cosby's lawyers insisted that two of the accusers knew they were taking quaaludes from the comedian, according to the unsealed documents.

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Attorneys for some of the women now suing Cosby seized on the testimony as powerful evidence that what they have been saying all along is true: the comedian drugged and raped women.

Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing several women, said she hopes to use the admission in court cases against the comedian.

"This confirms the allegations of numerous victims who have said that he has used drugs in order to sexually assault them," Allred told FOX411. "This admission is one that Mr. Cosby has attempted to hide from the public for many years and we are very gratified that it is now being made public."

Meanwhile, a lawyer for one woman, who says Bill Cosby drugged and assaulted her when she was 19, says the unsealing of portions of his 2005 testimony is a "significant and positive step." Therese Serignese went public with the allegations last November. She says Cosby assaulted her after a show in Las Vegas around 1976.

Lisa Bloom, attorney for model Janice Dickinson, who says she was drugged and raped, said: "If today's report is true, Mr. Cosby admitted under oath 10 years ago sedating women for sexual purposes. Given that, how dare he publicly vilify Ms. Dickinson and accuse her of lying when she tells a very similar story?"

Three women in Massachusetts are suing Cosby for defamation. The women say his representatives branded them liars when the representatives denied accusations that Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted them.

Lawyer Joe Cammarata represents one of the Massachusetts accusers. He says the use of drugs during sex has been a "recurring theme of the women's allegations." He says the documents unsealed appear to support their claims.

Cosby, 77, has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct in episodes dating back more than four decades. Cosby has never been charged with a crime, and the statute of limitations on most of the accusations has expired.

The AP had gone to court to compel the release of the 2004 deposition. Cosby's lawyers had objected to the release of the material, arguing it would embarrass him. Ultimately, a judge unsealed just a small portion of the deposition.

"The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct is a matter as to which the AP -- and by extension the public -- has a significant interest," U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno wrote.

Cosby, with his oft-espoused views on topics including childrearing, family life, education and crime "has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he is entitled to claim," the judge wrote.

Cosby, who starred as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show" from 1984 to 1992, settled Constand's lawsuit under confidential terms in 2006. His lawyers in the Philadelphia case did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment on Monday. Constand consented to be identified but did not want to comment, her lawyer said.

"This evidence shows a pattern in which defendant 'mentored' naive young women and introduced drugs into the relationship, with and without the woman's knowledge, in order for him to achieve sexual satisfaction," Constand's lawyer, Dolores M. Troiani, argued in court papers.

Cosby later said he gave Constand three half-pills of Benadryl, although Troiani in the documents voices doubt that was the drug involved.

Cosby had fought the AP's efforts to unseal the testimony, with his lawyer arguing that the deposition could reveal details of Cosby's marriage, sex life and prescription drug use.

“It would be terribly embarrassing for this material to come out," lawyer George M. Gowen III argued in June.

He also said the material would "prejudice him in eyes of the jury pool in Massachusetts," where Cosby is fighting defamation lawsuits brought by women who say his representatives smeared them by accusing them of lying.

Robreno asked last month why Cosby was fighting the release of his sworn testimony, given that the accusations in the Constand lawsuit were already public.

"Why would he be embarrassed by his own version of the facts?" the judge said.

Cosby resigned in December from the board of trustees at Temple University, where he was the popular face of the Philadelphia school in advertisements, fundraising campaigns and commencement speeches.

Lawyer Gayle Sproul, representing the AP, in court last month called the married Cosby "an icon" who "held himself out as someone who would guide the public in ways of morality."

Troiani, summarizing her evidence, painted a starkly different picture.

Cosby "has evidenced a predilection for sexual contact with women who are unconscious or drugged. His victims are young, 'star struck' and totally trusting of his public persona," Troiani argued.

Cosby's lawyers have not returned messages seeking comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.