Roy Moore Sues Sacha Baron Cohen for $95 Million

(CN) - Former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore sued Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime for $95 million on Wednesday, claiming he was duped into appearing on Cohen's "Who Is America?"

In a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., Moore claims he was defamed by Cohen during a televised interview, and that the actor “falsely and fraudulently” introduced a “device supposedly invented by the Israeli Army to detect pedophiles” and used it on him.

“Cohen’s ‘device’… purports to detect Judge Moore as a sex offender. Thus, defaming him,” the complaint states.

Moore claims the actor caused both he and his wife, Kayla Moore, “severe emotional distress,” and caused him “severe financial damage” presently and in the future.

Moore signed a release before appearing on the Showtime program.

He only met with Cohen, Moore claims, because he was invited by the actor to attend an awards ceremony. Cohen also requested an interview after the event.

“In the preemptive notice, defendants CBS, Showtime and thus Cohen were informed that the release Judge Moore had signed was obtained through fraud, and was therefore void and inoperative,” writes Moore’s Washington, D.C.-based attorney, Larry Klayman.

In the complaint, Klayman notes Moore only discovered the alleged fraud following the taping of his segment with Cohen.

Moore’s attorney in Alabama, Melissa Isaak, also sent a “preemptive notice” to Showtime, CBS and Cohen warning that Moore would “resort to appropriate legal remedies” if the cable network aired the segment.

“Defendant Cohen, while in disguise, further made false and fraudulent representations that he was 'Erran Morad' in order to trick Judge Moore into speaking with and to be interviewed by him,” the complaint states. “Had Plaintiffs known that 'Erran Morad' was defendant Cohen, Judge Moore would never have agreed to the interview and for Mrs. Moore to be present and, at a minimum, have terminated the interview immediately.”

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