Roger Ailes, the co-founder and recently ousted CEO of Fox News, has hired a well-known libel lawyer for a possible suit against New York magazine and its reporter Gabriel Sherman, Financial Times reported.
Ailes has retained Charles Harder, a Hollywood lawyer who most recently helped former pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan win a $140 million lawsuit that bankrupted the news and gossip website Gawker.
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In July, Ailes stepped down from his role at Fox News after an increasing number of women, including current and former stars like Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson, claimed Ailes sexually harassed them at the conservative news channel.
Sherman was the reporter responsible for breaking stories about the allegations against Ailes throughout the summer, including one that revealed how Ailes used Fox News’ money to fuel paranoid and vindictive campaigns against his enemies.
Sherman for years has cultivated sources within Ailes’ sphere and wrote The Loudest Voice in the Room, a critical 2014 biography of Ailes and the creation of Fox News.
Ailes’ friend and personal lawyer Susan Estrich slammed Sherman as a “virus,” and called his expose on Ailes and Fox News a “vendetta.”
New York magazine did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a spokeswoman told the Financial Times the magazine had been contacted by Harder; it also stood by Sherman’s “very carefully reported” stories.
While Harder is well-known for his most recent win against Gawker on behalf of Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, he has represented several high-profile clients like Bradley Cooper, Reese Witherspoon and Lena Dunham, typically for cases relating to publicity, libel and privacy.
In addition to working with Ailes, Harder is currently representing Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in a lawsuit against the Daily Mail and other outlets for allegedly defamatory claims that she worked as an escort in the 1990s.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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