Former Fox News personality Andrea Tantaros claimed in a federal lawsuit Monday that executives at the network approved a systematic campaign of digital surveillance and harassment, hacking into her computer and phone devices and creating “sock puppet” fake news sites to discredit her after she filed a sexual harassment suit against former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and network stalwart Bill O’Reilly.
Tantaros sued Fox and Ailes in August, claiming the Fox News president and O’Reilly Factor host Bill O’Reilly had sexually harassed her. Tantaros’ suit came after former Fox News personality Gretchen Carlson filed her suit accusing Ailes of sexual harassment, which eventually led to Ailes’ ouster from the company. O’Reilly was dismissed last week from Fox News in the aftermath of a New York Times story that the company had paid out $13 million to settle sexual harassment claims by several women against the host over the years. Several O’Reilly Factor advertisers pulled their ads from the show after the Times article broke, adding to the pressure on the company to jettison the host.
Fox had called Tantaros’ an “opportunist” in filing her earlier suit, adding that she violated company policy by publishing a book without first obtaining permission, and that her claims should be resolved in arbitration. A New York State Supreme Court judge agreed in February, moving the case to private arbitration where it currently resides.
In the meantime, Tantaros filed her most recent litigation in federal court in Manhattan Monday, claiming that after she had made her complaints about Ailes and O’Reilly known, Fox put in motion a campaign aimed at monitoring her every move and discrediting her.
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