The New York attorney general reportedly launched a probe into allegations of sexual misconduct at NBC News shortly after anchor Matt Lauer was fired from the network over two years ago.
Lauer, the former co-host of Today, was fired in November, 2017 after several women went public with accusations of sexual misconduct against him.
Reports of the investigation, which is being conducted by the Civil Rights Bureau of the state attorney general’s office, come just a day after former NBC News Chairman Andy Lack was also ousted from the network.
Lack departed NBC on Monday amid a corporate restructuring after two stints as head of the news division, one in the 1990s and a more turbulent one beginning in 2015.
Authorities have reportedly interviewed more than a dozen women in connection with the investigation, including former Fox News star turned NBC host Megyn Kelly, who joined the network in 2017 but left the following year.
Former NBC News anchor Linda Vester said she was interviewed by authorities in January as part of the probe about allegations of sexual misconduct at the network. Vester, 54, alleges that former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw tried twice to forcibly kiss her in the 1990’s.
“They wanted to know as many details as I could offer about what Andy Lack’s involvement was in orchestrating a public response against me and a defense or cover-up. He was one of many,” Vester told The Daily Mail.
Some of the more serious accusations against high-profile men at the network were leveled against Lauer, several of which were published last year in the book “Catch and Kill” by journalist Ronan Farrow.
Late last year as Lauer was trying to restart his career, a former NBC producer publicly accused him of anally raping her after she “declined several times” one night in his hotel room during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. She claims she consumed six shots of vodka before the encounter, rendering her incapable of consent, and was bleeding for days afterwards. The former NBC producer said that the pair had multiple sexual encounters after the alleged rape that were consensual but “completely transactional” due to the power dynamic inherent in their professional relationship.
Lauer admitted to having an extramarital affair with the former producer but claimed their encounters were all consensual.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has not commented on the reports of her office’s investigation into the network.