http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/world/americas/jian-ghomeshi-canadian-radio-host-charged-with-sexual-assault.html 2014-11-26 20:55:18 Jian Ghomeshi, Canadian Radio Host, Charged With Sexual Assault After Mr. Ghomeshi was abruptly removed from his show, several women said they had been assaulted by him but had been reluctant to come forward. === OTTAWA — One of After Mr. Ghomeshi was abruptly The case also raised questions about whether managers at the CBC, which is owned by the government, were unwilling or unable to rein in celebrity hosts — questions that echoed the case of the British television personalty Jimmy Savile and the BBC. At least three women are believed to have formally complained to the Toronto police about Mr. Ghomeshi. In a statement, the police said he had been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance through choking. He was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon. Journalists working on an article about Mr. Ghomeshi for The Toronto Star contacted the CBC, seeking a response to allegations that he had assaulted several women in the course of sexual encounters. In October Mr. Ghomeshi tried to persuade his managers that he had done nothing wrong by providing them with emails, photographs and other materials, but those materials instead led them to dismiss him. The Toronto Star published its article shortly afterward, saying that with several women, Mr. Ghomeshi had been “physically violent to them without their consent during sexual encounters or in the lead-up to sexual encounters.” The newspaper reported that he had “struck them with a closed fist or open hand; bit them; choked them until they almost passed out; covered their nose and mouth so that they had difficulty breathing; and that they were verbally abused during and after sex.” In a Facebook post that has since been removed, Mr. Ghomeshi, 47, said his firing had been the result of a vendetta by a woman in “her late 20s” who was angry after he ended their relationship. In the post, Mr. Ghomeshi said that he enjoyed sex he described as being “a mild form of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ ” and that any interaction he had with women was with their consent. The women who have since come forward to the police have all denied giving Mr. Ghomeshi permission to assault them. Several legal experts have said that under Canadian law, whether a victim has given consent makes no difference in the culpability of an assailant. Mr. Ghomeshi hired a public relations firm to try to deal with the scandal, but it has since dropped him as a client. He filed suit against the CBC over his dismissal, but he withdrew that suit on Tuesday and agreed to reimburse the network for its legal costs in relation to the suit. The CBC reported that he is still contesting his firing through a union grievance.