Matt Lauer accuser speaks out in Ronan Farrow’s new book

For more than 20 years, Matt Lauer was a star anchor of NBC's “Today.” His downfall came in November 2017, when the network fired him after receiving a complaint of sexual misconduct against him. The accusation was followed by others.

Now, the circumstances of that firing have resurfaced in a book by investigative journalist Ronan Farrow that contains new details from Lauer's primary accuser. “Catch and Kill” is expected to be released Tuesday.

Variety reported that Farrow had secured an on-the-record interview with Brooke Nevils, who allowed the author to name her.

Nevils gave Farrow a detailed description of an encounter with Lauer, which took place when the network was covering the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Lauer anally raped Nevils, she told Farrow.

Lauer denied the allegation in a letter provided by his lawyer.

Before he left for The New Yorker, Farrow was a reporter at NBC News. At the time of his departure in August 2017, he was pursuing allegations of sexual misconduct against film mogul Harvey Weinstein. Farrow and executives at NBC News disagreed over whether or not his reporting was ready for broadcast, and their working relationship came to an end.

In an email to staff, NBC News chairman Andrew Lack said, “We spent eight months pursuing the story but at the end of that time, NBC News — like many others before us — still did not have a single victim or witness willing to go on the record.”

In “Catch and Kill,” Farrow set his sights on Lack and NBC News President Noah Oppenheim. The book includes a more detailed account of pushback Farrow said he received from the news division's executives.

At the time of Lauer's firing, NBC News executives said they had not been aware of the host's sexual misconduct until the first accuser filed a complaint.

The network started an inquiry. Unlike previous investigations of sexual misconduct involving employees at media companies like NPR and Fox News, which relied on outside law firms, NBC used its own counsel.

Five months after the firing, the NBCUniversal legal team filed a report clearing NBC News management.

Farrow's book may put the legal team's finding under scrutiny.

NATHAN CONGLETON — NBC VIA AP A woman who worked with NBC at the Sochi Olympics claims in the book, “Catch and Kill,” that she was raped by former NBC anchor Matt Lauer, above in 2017, at a hotel there.