Fox News contributor Tamara Holder has reached a $2.5 million settlement with the company after she claimed former Fox News Latino vp Francisco Cortes sexually assaulted her. The incident happened two years ago, but Holder only reported it last September after other lawsuits were filed against former CEO Roger Ailes. In her story in the New York Times today, Emily Steel writes:
“Holder has said [Cortes] tried to force her to perform oral sex on him in February 2015 when the two were alone in his office, according to interviews with four people briefed on her account, and documents that detail her claims. Ms. Holder did not immediately report the episode to the company or the police, fearing that doing so would ruin her career, interviews and documents show.”
Fox News looked into her claims last fall, and “days later” Cortes was terminated.
Cortes, who was a close confidant of former FNC chief Roger Ailes, launched Fox News Latino in 2010. Cortes hoped Fox News Latino would eventually morph into its own network. Instead, in December, after Cortes was fired, the network rolled the standalone site into FoxNews.com.
The network released a joint statement with Holder yesterday:
In September 2016 Fox News contributor Tamara Holder reported an incident of sexual assault at Fox News headquarters from the prior year. Immediately after Ms. Holder notified Fox News of the alleged incident, the Company promptly investigated the matter and took decisive action, for which Ms. Holder thanks the network. Following the completion of her contract on January 1, 2017, Ms. Holder left the network. Fox News is grateful to Ms. Holder for her many contributions during her tenure at the network and wishes her continued success.
Holder had been a civil rights lawyer before joining Fox News as a legal analyst in 2010. She left FNC after her contract expired on Jan. 1 of this year. In addition to her legal commentary, Holder hosted a digital show for Fox News called Sports Court about legal and political issues in sports.