NYT: CBS continues to pay legal settlement over sexual assault allegations by ’60 Minutes’ legend Don Hewitt

New York
CNN Business
—

Allegations of sexual misconduct at CBS made headlines last year, but that behavior may have a long history.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the company is continuing to pay a settlement to a woman who accused “60 Minutes” founding executive producer Don Hewitt of sexually assaulting her and destroying her career.

Hewitt died in 2009, but The Times reported that CBS continues to pay the unidentified woman a substantial and growing settlement. The settlement was originally reached in the 1990s, according to The Times, for $450,000 in exchange for his silence. That sum has been changed six times, including once in 2018, bringing it to a total of more than $5 million — “plus annual payments of $75,000 for the rest of his life.”

The revelation appears in a draft report on workplace culture at “60 Minutes” for the CBS board of directors, according to the Times. The Times said on Thursday that the draft report indicates that “the physical, administrative and cultural separation between ’60 Minutes’ and the rest of CBS News has enabled misconduct by some ’60 Minutes’ employees.”

CNN has not reviewed a copy of the draft report.

The man who replaced Hewitt as head of the news magazine, Jeff Fager, was fired in September amid accusations of improper conduct.

Fager has strongly denied the allegations.

The specific reason for Fager’s firing, however, stems from a text he sent to Jericka Duncan – one of the CBS reporters who had covered the fallout from Ronan Farrow’s investigation into Fager and the former CEO. from CBS, Les Moonves.

The Times said the investigative report is expected to be presented to the CBS board next week.