Top Fox News PR Exec Lewis Departs

UPDATED: 18:34 p.m. ET

Fox News' top PR guy Brian Lewis is no longer with the organization he helped launch.

"After an extensive internal investigation of Brian Lewis' conduct by Fox News, it was determined that he should be terminated for cause, specifically for issues relating to financial irregularities, as well as for multiple, material and significant breaches of his employment contract," a spokesperson for Fox News parent 21st Century Fox said. “He was terminated for cause on July 25.”

Lewis was escorted from his office and was negotiating a separation according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported Lewis' departure and cited "financial issues and other performance problems" for his departure.

An email to Lewis drew an automated "out of the office" reply. Lewis' corporate biography was no longer available on the Fox News website.

Lewis has been an advisor to Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes since they were both with CNBC. He joined fox News in April 1996, before the Fox News Channel was launched. He was named executive VP, corporate communications for Fox Television Stations and Fox News in 2006.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.