Report: Fox News settles with contributor assaulted at HQ

A former Fox News contributor says she was sexually assaulted by a network executive and has reportedly reached a settlement of more than $2.5 million in the incident.

Tamara Holder, who worked as a legal and political analyst for Fox News beginning in 2010, reported that the assault occurred at the company's New York City headquarters two years ago.

“In September 2016 Fox News contributor Tamara Holder reported an incident of sexual assault at Fox News headquarters from the prior year," according to a joint statement from the network and Holder. "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."

Holder, whose contract ended on Jan. 1, 2017, 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,” the statement said.

Holder did not immediately report the incident, which occurred in February 2015, to Fox or the police because she feared it would hurt her career, The New York Times reported, citing interviews with four people briefed on her account and documents detailing her claims.

The network executive, she said, attempted to force her to perform oral sex on him in February 2015 when they were alone in his office, the Times reported.

After Holder reported the claim to Fox, the network investigated her claims, and Francisco Cortes, the vice president for Fox News Latino, was terminated, two people familiar with the matter told the Times. Ms. Holder left Fox News after her contract expired on January 1, 2017.

In late February 2017, Fox News' parent company 21st Century Fox reached a settlement worth more than $2.5 million with Holder, the Times reported according to people briefed on the settlement.

Cortes' attorney could not be reached for comment, but he told the Times: “I am presently considering Mr. Cortes’ legal options.”

The network conducted another internal investigation in 2016 into the sexual harassment charges brought in a lawsuit by former anchor Gretchen Carlson against the network's then-CEO Roger Ailes. Ailes, who denied the claims, left Fox in July 2016 with a $40 million settlement. Fox settled with Carlson in September 2016, agreeing to pay her $20 million.

Additional claims have plagued the network with Megyn Kelly writing in her book Settle for More that Ailes had harassed her starting in 2005. Kelly left Fox in January for NBC.

Also last year another former Fox News broadcaster Andrea Tantaros filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the network, Ailes and other Fox executives, charging the network "operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny."

That case recently was ordered to arbitration. Tantaros had been suspended for breaching her contract by publishing a book without company approval. She never complained about Ailes in an internal probe of her claims, Fox has said.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.