Report: CBS still pays ex-employee who alleged 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt sexually assaulted her

The New York Times

The New York Times has released a new bombshell report on sexual misconduct at 60 Minutes, finding that CBS continues paying out a settlement through 2018 -- totaling more than $5 million -- to a former CBS employee who accused the legendary 60 Minutes founder of repeatedly sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. Hewitt launched 60 Minutes in 1968 and served as its powerful executive producer through 2004. He died in 2009 at age 86. The revelation comes in a 59-page draft report that independent investigators are expected to present to the CBS board next week. "Investigators revealed that CBS continues to pay out a settlement to a woman who claimed that Mr. Hewitt sexually assaulted her on repeated occasions and destroyed her career," reports The Times. "The settlement, reached in the 1990s, has been amended multiple times, including this year. In total, CBS has agreed to pay the former employee more than $5 million." The draft report, according to The Times, also found that Hewitt's successor, Jeff Fager -- whom CBS fired in September for threatening a CBS News reporter looking into allegations about his behavior -- “engaged in certain acts of sexual misconduct” with colleagues and failed to stop misbehavior by others. The draft report accuses Fager of groping one employee and trying to kiss another with an open mouth. The report also learned that Fager instructed a female employee to drive him and other producers to a legal brothel while reporting a story in Nevada. “This is the first I am hearing some of these allegations about my personal conduct,” Fager wrote in an email to The Times. “I’m surprised and devastated to hear them from The New York Times since I was not given the opportunity by CBS investigators to respond to their accuracy.” The Times also says the report found that 60 Minutes' famous independence from the rest of CBS News "came at a cost: The show proved unable to prevent inappropriate conduct by some of its top executives."