![]() After Ailes further threatened her, Luhn performed oral sex on him, the complaint says. Luhn says that she complied, as she was “feeling pressured by one of the most powerful men in the world and unsure of what to do.” Ailes allegedly videotaped her. “His manipulation of her began immediately when he tied her compliance to her job security, saying, ‘Laurie, if you’re gonna be my girl, my eyes and ears, if you are going to be someone I can depend on in Washington, my spy, come on, dance for me.’” “When she arrived, Ailes told Luhn to dance for him. “Ahead of the meeting, Ailes demanded that Luhn wear a black garter and stockings, calling it her ‘uniform,’ the lawsuit says. ![]() In January 1991, a few months into Luhn’s job, Ailes allegedly called her to a Marriott hotel in Virginia for a meeting that would become the first episode of abuse. Bush’s campaign headquarters, Luhn was 28 and Ailes was close to 50 the lawsuit says she was eager to work with and learn from him.īefore hiring her at his firm Ailes Communications, the lawsuit says, Ailes “groomed Luhn by asking her deeply personal questions about her family and childhood at her very first job interview” in order to “manipulate her.” (The suit notes that Gretchen Carlson’s own complaint against Ailes in 2016 prompted other women to share similar “grooming” stories.) Luhn says that Ailes “used his proximity to the political elite and the news media to take advantage of Luhn’s professional interest in those fields.” When they met in Washington, D.C., at George H.W. ![]() “His sexual misconduct did not begin at Fox Ailes had been harassing women for years and pressuring them into engaging in nonconsensual sexual conduct by holding career opportunities over their heads since at least the early 1980s.” “Ailes should never have been in a position of power at Fox News or anywhere else,” the filing states. She stayed in that role until mid-2011, the complaint says. In private conversations with Luhn, Ailes explicitly reinforced the message that this public campaign was designed to convey to Luhn and other would-be accusers: come forward at your own peril,” the lawsuit states.Īccording to the lawsuit, Luhn began working at Fox News as a guest relations staffer when the network launched in 1996, rising to senior director of corporate and special events in 2007. “In the period when Ailes was abusing her, Luhn had a front-row seat to the very public intimidation campaign that Fox News waged against another victim after she lodged disturbing allegations against Fox News star, Bill O’Reilly. Luhn says she suffered a mental breakdown over the abuse, and that Shine was tasked with taking over her personal life and medical care and preventing her from speaking out.Īs a result of Shine’s tactics, the complaint says, Luhn signed a “release” of her claims and received a severance equivalent to her wages until retirement. The suit alleges Fox News corporate higher-ups “knew of Ailes’s conduct (and similar conduct of Fox News’s on-air talent) yet did nothing to stop it.” Instead, the filing claims, executives embarked on public smear campaigns to intimidate victims like Luhn and bully them into silence. ![]() The Adult Survivors Act was created to redress wrongs exactly like these.”įor its part, Fox News Media said in a released statement, “this matter was settled years ago, dismissed in subsequent litigation, and is meritless.” People knew, but no one at Fox News stepped in to stop it. Luhn suffered was some of the worst imaginable. It’s resulted in new lawsuits against Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, billionaire Leon Black, Bill Cosby, and Trump.Īccording to Luhn’s filing, Ailes used his position of power to “trap” her “in a decades-long cycle of sexual abuse.” And to ensure her compliance, the complaint adds, “Ailes photographed and videotaped Luhn in compromising positions-blackmail material that he explicitly described as his ‘insurance policy’-and made clear to Luhn that any attempt to speak out or stop the abuse would result in severe personal humiliation and career ruin.”īarbara Whiten Balliette, an attorney for Luhn and partner at Reid Collins & Tsai LLP, told The Daily Beast in a statement: “The abuse that Ms. The suit is among the latest to be filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window for adult victims to file claims regardless of the statute of limitations. Luhn’s complaint lists Fox News Network and Twenty-First Century Fox as defendants, along with William Shine, a Fox producer and executive who had a short-lived turn as former President Trump’s White House communications chief. Andrea Tantaros: Roger Ailes Targeted ‘Wounded Birds’ for Sexual Harassment ![]()
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