Former anchor Andrea Tantaros has filed a lawsuit against Fox News Channel, asserting retaliation for lodging sexual harassment claims against former chairman Roger Ailes, The New York Times reported.
The Tantaros lawsuit, filed in Manhattan state Supreme Court Monday, also claims she was harassed by other executives at the network.
"Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny," the Times quoted Tantaros' lawsuit.
Ailes resigned last month in the wake of several allegations that began with former morning anchor Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit, claiming the Fox News chief demanded sex to improve her standing at the network.
According to published reports, some two dozen Fox News staff have since claimed harassment issues, including star host Megyn Kelly.
The Times last week also reported that Ailes paid out millions in hush money to silence employees who complained about sexual harassment.
New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman has detailed the case of former Fox event booker Laurie Luhn, who claimed a 20-year period of "psychological torture" working for Ailes, who she said had liaisons with her at swanky New York hotel rooms.
She told New York magazine she was required to engage in oral sex with Ailes, as well as perform sadomasochistic sex with other women as Ailes photographed the sessions.
Luhn said before she left Fox News she was kept incommunicado at New York's Warwick Hotel from friends and family under the watch of Ailes and his deputy, Bill Shine, who screened her emails and communications.
In 2011, Fox News paid Luhn $3.1 million to keep quiet about her allegations.
Tantaros and Fox have been embroiled in a months-long contract dispute over a book the company said breached her contract, the Times reported.
"Ailes did not act alone," the lawsuit states. "He may have been the primary culprit, but his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants, who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation and retaliation."
Tantaros claims she complained about the harassment to Shine.
Tantaros says she complained that another Fox executive, Irena Briganti, had been attacking her. Tantaros lawsuit asserts that Shine "told Tantaros that Briganti is like a rabid dog on a chain that we can't control. Sometimes that dog gets off the chain."
Shine added that Ailes "has faith in Irena Briganti" and suggested to Tantaros that she "needs to let this one go."
Shine and Briganti have denied Tanataros' claims. Earlier this month Shine was promoted to co-president of the network.
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