Ex-Fox exec sues over disclosure of assault claims

A former Fox News executive fired after he was accused of sexually assaulting a female on-air commentator is suing parent company 21st Century Fox for going public with the matter.

Francisco Cortes, who ran Fox News Latino, was fired in February after Tamara Holder, a Fox News contributor, complained to the company that he attempted to force her to have oral sex with him in his office in February 2015. Holder, whose contract as a contributor was not renewed at the end of 2016, was given a $2.5-million settlement by 21st Century Fox.

The Cortes lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York Supreme Court said comments that Fox and Holder gave to the New York Times in a March 8 story about the settlement violated an agreement with his accuser. The agreement stipulated Holder would not “publish or cause to be published any statements” that portrayed him “in an unreasonable light.” The lawsuit, which asks for damages of $48 million, says that the remarks about the case to the New York Times were “carefully negotiated” by Holder and Fox and that the publication of them destroyed Cortes’ reputation in the TV business.

The statement Fox News gave to the Times confirmed Holder received a settlement but did not mention Cortes, but his name was reported in the story, which was picked up by other outlets, including the Los Angeles Times.

In the suit, Cortes denies the claims made by Holder, but said he agreed to the settlement to put the matter behind him.

A Fox News representative said in a statement that the suit’s allegations “are frivolous and without merit.”

Holder’s claims came amid a spate of sexual harassment allegations being investigated by 21st Century Fox’s law firm following the lawsuit filed by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson against the network’s late chief executive, Roger Ailes.

stephen.battaglio@latimes.com