Federal Fox News Investigation Widens Beyond Sex Harassment Payouts, Report Says

By Christopher Brennan, New York Daily News

28 April 17

 

ederal investigators' probe into Fox News has expanded beyond questions over its sexual harassment payouts, according to a report.

The Justice Department investigation of the conservative news network has seen interviews being conducted with former Fox staffers, with the Postal Inspection Service overseeing potential mail and wire fraud cases, CNN reported Thursday.

The Daily News first reported in February that Fox News was under “ongoing criminal investigation” by the Justice Department, after a lawyer for former host Andrea Tantaros said that one of his other clients had received a subpoena.

That investigation was being led by the department’s securities unit, attorney Judd Burstein said at the time, adding that Fox’s failure to disclose sexual harassment payouts could violate federal law.

Fox News confirmed in February that the company had been in communication with the U.S. attorney’s office for months.

CNN reported Thursday that federal investigators were looking beyond the settlement payments toward consultants of Roger Ailes, the disgraced former head of the network.

The Justice Department has not commented on the Fox investigations.

Burstein said previously that the subpoena came from the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by President Trump in March.

Trump's praise of Fox News has been effusive while he lambasts other media he sees as “fake news,” leading to uncertainty about the future of the federal investigation.