{"id":12115,"date":"2017-02-16T00:56:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T05:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=12115"},"modified":"2024-11-15T16:26:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T21:26:29","slug":"fox-news-said-to-be-facing-investigation-over-ailes-harassment-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2017\/02\/16\/fox-news-said-to-be-facing-investigation-over-ailes-harassment-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox News said to be facing investigation over Ailes harassment cases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"263\" data-attachment-id=\"267896\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2017\/02\/16\/fox-news-said-to-be-facing-investigation-over-ailes-harassment-cases\/image-304\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-62.png?fit=1200%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-62.png?fit=525%2C263&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-62.png?resize=525%2C263&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-267896\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-62.png?resize=1024%2C512&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-62.png?resize=300%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-62.png?resize=768%2C384&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-62.png?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roger Ailes hasn&#8217;t been chairman of Fox News since last July, but the company continues to deal with issues raised during his tenure at the top of the Murdoch-owned conservative broadcaster, including multiple sexual-harassment claims that helped lead to his departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to new information that emerged on Wednesday, federal investigators <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/thr-esq\/roger-ailes-may-be-subject-sec-investigation-sexual-harassment-claims-976496\">may be looking into<\/a> payments that Fox News made in order to settle some of Ailes&#8217; harassment cases, and whether those payments were disclosed properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This revelation came to light during a hearing in New York&#8217;s Supreme Court, in an ongoing lawsuit filed by former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros alleging harassment by Ailes. A lawyer for Tantaros said that one of his clients had been served with a subpoena by federal prosecutors investigating the sexual-harassment claims against the former Fox chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attorney Judd Burstein <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/hollywood\/la-fi-ct-fox-harassment-20170215-story.html\">said he got the subpoena<\/a> from federal investigators at the Department of Justice\u2019s New York Southern District, and that it requested testimony from his client before a grand jury. Burstein said that he believes the investigation centers around whether Fox News violated securities laws by not reporting harassment settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: This was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/authory.com\/MathewIngram\/Fox-News-Said-to-Be-Facing-Investigation-Over-Ailes-Harassment-Cases-ae5d6ccf44b084cabb0f182976dfb2199\">originally published<\/a>\u00a0at Fortune, where I was a senior writer from 2015 to 2017<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>, a report prepared as part of an internal Fox News investigation into Ailes&#8217; conduct <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/21st-century-fox-faces-probe-over-funds-to-settle-sexual-harassment-claims-1487212746\">found that the network had<\/a> created a pool of money to be used for payments to harassment claimants, but that it disguised the nature of the fund in public documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"525\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">According to two Fox sources, Fox News has secretly settled sexual harassment complaints with at least 4 women since Ailes left<\/p>&mdash; Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gabrielsherman\/status\/818883065577701377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2017<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to the payment allegations, Tantaros&#8217; lawyer said that he also had &#8220;compelling evidence&#8221; that Fox News engaged in electronic surveillance of the former Fox host&#8217;s personal email and other accounts. A number of Fox employees said in the wake of Ailes&#8217; departure that <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2016\/08\/08\/media\/roger-ailes-fox-monitoring\/index.html\">they believed their phone calls<\/a> and other activities were monitored by the Fox chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For many observers, these claims bring back memories of the revelations surrounding News Corp., the predecessor to 21st Century Fox, which was accused in ** of hacking into employees&#8217; email and phone records at British newspapers owned by the Murdoch-controlled company in **.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Fox News lawyer told the judge on Wednesday that the network hasn&#8217;t received any subpoena. But a spokesperson for the network <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2017\/02\/15\/media\/fox-news-u-s-attorney-investigation\/\">later acknowledged that<\/a> Fox has been in communication with the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s office for months, and went on to say the company has co-operated &#8220;and will continue to cooperate on all inquiries with any interested authorities.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ailes&#8217; departure from the chairmanship of Fox News was triggered by a lawsuit filed by former anchor Gretchen Carlson, <a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2016\/08\/09\/ailes-fox-kingdom\/\">who alleged that<\/a> Ailes made repeated sexual advances towards her, and then penalized her for not accepting those advances. Ailes denied these claims, and the case was eventually settled in return for a payment of $20 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other former Fox News hosts have since come forward to make similar allegations, including Tantaros, who used to be the co-host of an afternoon show called Outnumbered. She claims she was harassed by Ailes as well as other Fox executives, including host Bill O&#8217;Reilly. Those claims have also been denied by the defendants in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An internal investigation that was launched by Fox News&#8217; parent company 21st Century Fox in the wake of the Carlson lawsuit revealed that more than 20 current and former hosts and other staff had been harassed by Ailes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In at least some cases, allegations of harassment were handled by making payments to Ailes&#8217; accusers, including one that gave former show-booker Laurie Luhn a $3.15-million settlement in 2011. Luhn <a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2016\/07\/fmr-fox-booker-harassed-by-ailes-for-20-years.html\">claimed that she had been harassed<\/a> by Ailes over a period of 20 years. The payment reportedly never appeared in any financial filings made by Fox News or its parent company.<\/p>\n<div class=\"syndication-links\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roger Ailes hasn&#8217;t been chairman of Fox News since last July, but the company continues to deal with issues raised during his tenure at the top of the Murdoch-owned conservative broadcaster, including multiple sexual-harassment claims that helped lead to his departure. According to new information that emerged on Wednesday, federal investigators may be looking into &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2017\/02\/16\/fox-news-said-to-be-facing-investigation-over-ailes-harassment-cases\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Fox News said to be facing investigation over Ailes harassment cases&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crsspst_to_mathewingramblogwordpresscom":true,"mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fortune"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267897,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12115\/revisions\/267897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}