ordered to stop (reporting the story). We were given a hard order not to take a single call about the subject, and we were ordered to cancel interviews with rape victims. This was un-journalistic, it was a big question mark in the press why, and 'Catch and Kill' answers why, which was a company concealing a lot of secrets that had a lot of secret contacts with Harvey Weinstein."

According to "Catch," Weinstein allegedly knew of multiple sexual misconduct accusations against former "Today" anchor Matt Lauer, obtained by Weinstein's friend Dylan Howard, chief content officer of National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. (AMI). The book goes on to allege that Weinstein threatened to expose Lauer if NBC ran Farrow's investigation of him, which Oppenheim rejected Monday as a "third-handrumor" with "no corroboration."

According to "Catch," NBC brokered nondisclosure agreements and seven-figure payouts with at least seven women who alleged sexual harassment or discrimination at the company. (Oppenheim disputed those figures, saying there were only three departure agreements made before Lauer's exit that "were unrelated to Lauer and completely routine," involving employees who made "no complaint to management.")

One of those alleged victims is Brooke Nevils, a former assistant to "Today" host Meredith Vieira. In "Catch's" most disturbing chapter, Nevils describes in graphic detail the night that Lauer allegedly raped her in his hotel room at the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia. "(It) hurt to walk, hurt to sit," Nevils tells Farrow of the days following the alleged attack.

Lauer denied Nevils' account of the encounter in an open letter