Gretchen Carlson | Getty Fox settles with Gretchen Carlson over sexual harassment claims Company will pay $20 million to settle suit 
 
 21st Century Fox is settling a lawsuit brought by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, the company confirmed Tuesday morning. Terms of the settlement were not public, but Vanity Fair reported that it is for $20 million. 
 
 "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit," a statement from the company said. "During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she & all our colleagues deserve." 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 "I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my Complaint," Carlson said in a statement. "I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me in their #StandWithGretchen. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace." 
 
 The former Fox News host sued former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in July, alleging that he sexually harassed her and terminated her contract in retaliation. Ailes has denied the allegations, though after 21st Century Fox launched an investigation into the claims by Carlson and several other women, Ailes resigned from the company with a reported $40 million parachute. 
 
 Now Fox News is settling the suit on Ailes' behalf, even though the company was not named as a defendant in the case. It isn't clear whether Ailes will be paying a portion of it. 
 
 According to Vanity Fair, the settlement will come with a public apology to Carlson on behalf of Fox, which is also reportedly in talks with two other women for their own settlements. 
 
 Though a settlement was never off the table, Carlson and her team indicated early on that that wasn't their ultimate goal. 
 
 "We haven’t discussed a settlement with our client or anything because no one has raised it. This is about more than money. Gretchen is standing up for something really important to her, it’s something that’s been a hallmark of her career,” Carlson's lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith told POLITICO in July, noting Carlson's work with victims of domestic violence, on sexual harassment and women empowerment. "It’s important for her to stand up for women right now.” 
 
 Allan Ripp, a spokesman for Carlson and her legal team said they had no comment in response to the settlement report or to questions as to why Carlson would agree to settle. ||||| When Gretchen Carlson sued Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, claiming sexual harassment, many of her on-air colleagues discounted the accusations and defended Mr. Ailes. 
 
 Now Mr. Ailes has been forced out. And Ms. Carlson has reached a $20 million settlement with Fox News’s parent company and extracted a rare apology — “for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve.” 
 
 On Thursday night, the tide apparently started to turn for some of the colleagues who were initially skeptical of Ms. Carlson. Geraldo Rivera apologized in a Facebook post for casting doubt on her claims, saying he was “filled with regret.” And on Friday morning, Greta Van Susteren, who also defended Mr. Ailes after the lawsuit was filed, published a post on Facebook expressing her own regrets. 
 
 “I read Geraldo’s FB post in which he said he regretted not believing Gretchen Carlson’s claim of sexual harassment,” wrote Ms. Van Susteren, who left Fox News on Tuesday. “We all regret it.” 
 
 She also assigned blame to Mr. Ailes’s superiors at Fox News and its parent, 21st Century Fox, writing, “I regret that Roger Ailes was not supervised by those in a public corporation who had the duty to supervise him.” 
 
 Mr. Rivera, who said on Twitter at the time, “I stand with Roger Ailes,” and Ms. Van Susteren, who said Ms. Carlson’s claims didn’t “have any ring of truth to me,” have reversed their positions. But other well-known Fox personalities have not. 
 
 Shortly after Ms. Carlson filed her suit, Sean Hannity, the Fox prime-time host, dismissed the claims as “BS.” Other popular personalities also defended Mr. Ailes, including Neil Cavuto, Maria Bartiromo, Brit Hume and Kimberly Guilfoyle. 
 
 Here are some of the more prominent defenses of Mr. Ailes offered by Fox News on-air personalities after the lawsuit was filed in July. The New York Times has asked the network for any updated comments and will post them as they are provided. ||||| Is the Roger Ailes-era at Fox News about to end? 
 
 On Monday, New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman cited two anonymous sources in reporting that the Murdoch family leadership at parent company 21st Century Fox has settled on ousting Ailes as CEO and chairman of the cable news network. That comes amid the company’s ongoing investigation into Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment allegations against Ailes. 
 
 Sherman reports that Fox CEO James Murdoch is leaning toward offering Ailes the option of either resigning or facing the possibility of being fired sometime this week. Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch—James’ father and brother, respectively, and the executive co-chairmen of 21st Century Fox—are reportedly in favor of waiting to make a move until after this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, a major news event, particularly for the conservative-leaning Fox News network. 
 
 Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against Ailes earlier this month, and soon after, New York’s Sherman reported that six women came forward, two using their full names, claiming that Ailes had sexually harassed them too. Ailes denied all allegations. 
 
 Fox hired prominent corporate law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct an investigation, and the Monday report from Sherman cites anonymous sources who have been briefed on the law firm’s inquiry. In recent days, several top Fox News employees have come forward to defend their boss, and Sherman notes that the law firm is delving into the question of whether Ailes or other high-level managers applied inappropriate pressure. The firm is looking at an op-ed by Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto, who told The New York Times on Monday that he “had no Machiavellian motive or sinister intention” when he penned a recent article slamming the accusations against Ailes. (Last week, The Washington Post published a critical article after Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly publicly supported Ailes, noting O’Reilly had himself once been accused of sexual harassment.) 
 
 21st Century Fox issued a statement saying, “This matter is not yet resolved and the review is not concluded.” Fortune reached out to Fox News for comment and will update this article with any response. 
 
 After Carlson filed her lawsuit against Ailes—a suit that, notably, does not name Fox News itself as a defendant—Fortune‘s Roger Parloff wrote about Carlson’s possible motivations in not naming the company in the suit, including the possibility that the former anchor hoped to drive a wedge between Ailes and the younger Murdoch executives at parent company 21st Century Fox. If that was, indeed, the motivation, then Monday’s report would seem to justify the decision. 
 
 Carlson’s lawsuit does not represent the first instance of sexual harassment allegations against Ailes. Sherman wrote an unauthorized biography of Ailes in 2014 that included some sexual harassment claims. On Monday, the women’s advocacy organization UltraViolet also announced the nearly 50,000 people have signed the group’s petition calling for Ailes’ removal as head of Fox News. ||||| Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes responded forcefully Wednesday night to a lawsuit filed by Gretchen Carlson after her contract was not renewed as a daytime host at the network, calling the allegations “false” and “offensive.” 
 
 In the wake of Carlson’s suit against Ailes, which alleged sexual harassment and wrongful termination, the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, said it had launched an internal review of conduct by Ailes and by Steve Doocy, Carlson’s former co-host on “Fox & Friends.” The statement said the company has “full confidence” in Ailes and Doocy. 
 
 Carlson’s hosting of “The Real Story” ended on June 23, when her contract expired, which had not been made public until now. 
 
 The salacious nature of the lawsuit, filed in Bergen County, N.J., generated immediate headlines online. Carlson alleged that Ailes made comments about her physical appearance, and once told her that he would pick her to be stranded with on a desert island and that they should have had a sexual relationship long ago. 
 
 Ailes said in his personal statement: “Gretchen Carlson’s allegations are false. This is a retaliatory suit for the network’s decision not to renew her contract, which was due to the fact that her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon lineup. When Fox News did not commence any negotiations to renew her contract, Ms. Carlson became aware that her career with the network was likely over and conveniently began to pursue a lawsuit.” 
 
 The Carlson suit also alleged that Doocy “had created a hostile work environment by regularly treating her in a condescending and sexist way.” The suit says Ailes responded to her 2009 complaint to a supervisor by telling her to learn to “get along with the boys.” 
 
 While the lawsuit is based in part on alleged comments by Ailes in private conversations with Carlson, it provides no e-mail, texts or voice mail as evidence. 
 
 Carlson says in the suit that Ailes limited her opportunities at the network and did little to promote her career. When she was taken off “Fox & Friends” in 2013, Ailes created the 2 p.m. show and installed her as solo anchor. 
 
 “Ironically,” Ailes says in his statement, “Fox News provided her with more on-air opportunities over her 11-year tenure than any other employer in the industry, for which she thanked me in her recent book. This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously.” 
 
 When the new program was announced, Carlson said: “I am thrilled that Roger Ailes has given me the opportunity to host a signature show for Fox that will focus on the real stories of the day.” 
 
 In her book “Getting Real,” published last year, Carlson called Ailes “the most accessible boss I’ve ever worked for,” and said “he saw Fox as a big family, and he cared about everything we did.” She said he had even urged her to speak occasionally about having been Miss America in 1989. 
 
 The former host said in her own statement that she has “strived to empower women and girls throughout my entire career. Although this was a difficult step to take, I had to stand up for myself and speak out for all women and the next generation of women in the workplace." 
 
 In her book, Carlson wrote of her time on the morning show with Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, “I teasingly called Steve and Brian my ‘work husbands’ because I spent more time with them than I did with Casey.” She is married to sports agent and former pro baseball player Casey Close. 
 
 In describing her success, Carlson says in the suit that her daytime show consistently ranked first in its time slot. But it is also true that she lost to CNN more often than any other Fox News program. 
 
 The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the decision not to renew her contract. 
 
 Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. ||||| CLOSE Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros filed a lawsuit alleging she was sexually harassed by Fox News chief Roger Ailes as well as other executives. USA TODAY 
 
 Andrea Tantaros attends the 2015 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel on April 25, 2015. (Photo: Charles Sykes, AP) 
 
 Andrea Tantaros, a Fox News broadcaster, has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News, former CEO Roger Ailes and other Fox executives, another highly charged legal challenge for the conservative-leaning news network as it seeks to get past a turbulent management change triggered by a similar case. 
 
 "Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny," said her lawsuit, filed Monday in New York Supreme Court in New York County. 
 
 The lawsuit, whose defendants include Fox News co-president Bill Shine, communications chief Irena Briganti, general counsel Dianne Brandi and Suzanne Scott, executive vice president of programming and development, comes two weeks after Tantaros made her allegations in an article in New York magazine. 
 
 Fox News said it doesn't comment on pending litigation. Ailes' lawyer, Susan Estrich, couldn't be reached for comment. 
 
 In early July, former Fox News broadcaster Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes for sexual harassment, claiming the 76-year old executive decided not to renew her contract after she refused to sleep with him. She also alleged Ailes ignored her reports of "disparaging treatment in the newsroom.” 
 
 Ailes has denied the allegations. After an internal investigation by 21st Century Fox, the parent of Fox News, Ailes stepped down July 22 and left the company with a $40 million severance package. Carlson's lawsuit, filed only against Ailes, is ongoing. 
 
 Since Carlson's lawsuit, other Fox News female employees have come forward with sexual harassment complaints or public support of Carlson. Among them was Megyn Kelly, one of Fox News' most heavily promoted prime-time anchors, who told Fox's investigators she, too, had been sexually harassed by Ailes. 
 
 After Ailes left, Fox News overhauled its management by naming Shine and Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations, as co-presidents, reporting directly to Rupert Murdoch, co-executive chairman of the board of 21st Century Fox. 
 
 In her lawsuit, Tantaros claims Ailes allegedly asked her for a hug and told her to “turn around so I can get a good look at you.” Ailes also allegedly commented that Tantaros would “look good in a bikini.” Ailes also allegedly asked Tantaros about the sexual relationships of other Fox News employees. 
 
 Tantaros, known for her vociferously conservative politics, says she complained “multiple" times to senior Fox executives, including Shine, Scott and Brandi about Ailes’ behavior. In a meeting in spring 2015, Shine allegedly told Tantaros that Ailes was a “very powerful man” and that she “needed to let this one go,” her lawsuit says. Once her complaints were revealed to management, she was taken off the air, Tantaros says. 
 
 Shine has said Tantaros never complained to him about Ailes sexually harassing her. Brandi sent a letter to Tantaros' lawyer saying the network suspended her with pay because she failed to vet her 2016 book, Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What They Wanted Has Made Women Miserable, with the network. The book's cover shows Tantaros bound by ropes. 
 
 "For Ailes did not act alone," Tantaros' lawsuit reads. "He may have been the primary culprit, but his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants, who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation, and retaliation." 
 
 Tantaros also alleges Briganti placed "insulting" stories about her at various news organizations and posted negative comments about Tantaros via "sock puppet” social media accounts. A sock puppet is a deceptive online account operated by a person or company under a false identity. 
 
 Briganti denied in a statement that she used sock puppet social media accounts. 
 
 In the lawsuit, Tantaros says Bill O’Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor, sexually harassed her earlier this year by inviting her to "stay with him" on Long Island where it would be 'very private' and making other sexually suggestive comments. 
 
 Tantaros also claims former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who's now working for Fox News, and Fox News correspondent John Roberts made sexually inappropriate comments. She says Brown put his hands on her lower waist at lunch. 
 
 In an e-mail to the Boston Globe, Brown said: “Her statement about our limited on air, green room interactions are false,” Brown said. “There were never any circumstances of any kind whatsoever in which I had any interaction with her or any other employee at Fox, outside the studio.” 
 
 “In the three years I have been working there, I treat all people there the same, whether they be male or female,” Brown said. 
 
 Roberts and O'Reilly couldn't immediately be reached for comment. 
 
 Follow USA TODAY media reporter Roger Yu on Twitter @ByRogerYu. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2biAx0A ||||| Gretchen Carlson and Roger Ailes. 
 
 Fox News host Gretchen Carlson may be the highest-profile woman to accuse Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, but she is not the first. In my 2014 biography of the Fox News chief, I included interviews with four women who told me Ailes had used his position of power to make either unwanted sexual advances or inappropriate sexual comments in the office. 
 
 And it appears Carlson won’t be the last, either. In recent days, more than a dozen women have contacted Carlson’s New Jersey–based attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, and made detailed allegations of sexual harassment by Ailes over a 25-year period, dating back to the 1960s, when he was a producer on The Mike Douglas Show. “These are women who have never told these stories until now,” Smith told me. “Some are in a lot of pain.” Taken together, these stories portray Ailes as a boss who spoke openly of expecting women to perform sexual favors in exchange for job opportunities. “He said that’s how all these men in media and politics work — everyone’s got their friend,” recalled Kellie Boyle, who says Ailes propositioned her in 1989, shortly after he helped George H.W. Bush become president by serving as his chief media strategist. 
 
 Six of the women agreed to speak with New York publicly for the first time. Two spoke on the record; the others requested anonymity for reasons that include shame and fear of retribution. “I didn’t tell my husband, it was so mortifying,” said Marsha Callahan, a former model who says Ailes harassed her in the late ’60s, shortly before he would become Richard Nixon’s media adviser. 
 
 Ailes is clearly trying to keep these stories out of the press and the courts. Late on Friday, his lawyers filed a motion in federal court in New Jersey seeking to move Carlson’s lawsuit to arbitration, which would prevent witnesses from being called in court. “Plaintiff’s ploy of filing in Superior Court to justify her shameless publicity campaign against Roger Ailes should not be countenanced,” Ailes’s lawyers argued. Carlson’s lawyers responded in a statement: “Roger Ailes is trying to force this case into a secret arbitration proceeding … Gretchen never agreed to arbitrate anything with Mr. Ailes.” 
 
 Ailes’s spokesperson Irena Briganti did not respond to requests for comment. (Update: Ailes’s outside council, Barry Asen, has now responded to the new allegations. His statement can be found at the bottom of this post.) 
 
 Here are the women’s accounts: 
 
 Kellie Boyle, 54 
 
 Former Republican National Committee field adviser 
 
 This was back in 1989. I was 29 and living in New Jersey. My husband worked at CNBC and he said, “Roger Ailes is coming in to be interviewed — would you like to meet him?” I said yes! I’d worked in political communications for the Republican National Committee, so Roger Ailes was like a god. I’d read his book, You Are the Message, and I used it for a lot of training I did for candidates. I introduced myself in the green room, and he was very charming and said, “Would you like to visit my office downtown sometime?” 
 
 A week or two later I went in and mentioned to him I was going down to D.C. the following week to sign a major contract with the National Republican Congressional Committee. He said, “I’m going to be in D.C. too. Would you like to have dinner before you go in?” So we had a nice dinner at a restaurant in Union Station. There was nothing untoward about it at all. He had a driver and a car, and after dinner he said, “Can I take you to your friend’s?” So we get in the car and that’s when he said, “You know if you want to play with the big boys, you have to lay with the big boys.” I was so taken aback. I said, “Gosh, I didn’t know that. How would that work?” I was trying to kill time because I didn’t know if he was going to attack me. I was just talking until I could get out of the car. He said, “That’s the way it works,” and he started naming other women he’d had. He said that’s how all these men in media and politics work — everyone’s got their friend. I said, “Would I have to be friends with anybody else?” And he said, “Well, you might have to give a blow job every once in a while.” I told him I was going to have to think about this. He said, “No, if you don’t do it now, you know that means you won’t.” 
 
 The next morning I show up to get my assignment and was told the guy I was supposed to be meeting with was unavailable. Back in New Jersey, I got a call from Roger Ailes. He said, “How’d your meeting go?” I said, “Actually, he wasn’t available and I’m hoping to hear back from him.” He said, “Ah, well, I’m sure you will. Have you changed your mind yet?” I said, “I’ll have to pass, Roger. I’m married and really committed to my husband. No offense.” He said, “Well, we’ll be in touch.” And that was that. A couple weeks later, I called a friend who was very high up in the RNC and I asked him what happened. He said, “Word went out you weren’t to be hired.” 
 
 Marsha Callahan, 73 
 
 Former model 
 
 This was either ’68 or ’67. At the time he was producing The Mike Douglas Show, and I had a call from my modeling agency about the show. I got a call directly from Roger asking me to come down and to make sure I wore a garter belt and stockings. This was right after pantyhose came into use, and I said, “Why would you want me to do that instead of pantyhose?” He said, “If your legs look good in a garter belt, I’ll know you have great legs.” So I go into his office and right away he says, “Sit on the sofa and lift your skirt up.” I had to do these different poses. And then, I recall very clearly, he said he’d put me on the show but I needed to go to bed with him. I was a really shy girl, but I was a little cheeky, so I said, “Oh yeah, you and who else?” And he said, “Only me and a few of my select friends.” I said, “Well, if you think I have star quality and you can make money off my looks, I don’t think it’d matter if I went to bed with you or not.” And he said, “Oh, pretty girls like you are a dime a dozen.” The interview ended quickly. I was called in to do the show and I remember passing Roger in the hallway. He pretended not to know who I was. 
 
 Susan,* 66 
 
 Former model 
 
 I was 16 years old, living in Radnor, Pennsylvania. I was sent over for a walk-on part on The Mike Douglas Show in the winter of 1967. It was 6:30 in the evening and the place was totally closing up. Ailes took me into this big office and locked the door with a key. He reclined on a couch in a seating area under a map that had flags of all the cities they were syndicated in. He proceeded to pull down his pants and very gingerly pull out his genitals and said, “Kiss them.” And they were red, like raw hamburger. He was pretty meticulously dressed, with long white shirttails coming out. It was like he was just at the end of a long day and I was supposed to know what to do. I was a kid — I’d never seen a man’s privates before. I jumped up, but the door was locked and nobody was out there. He chased me around the office, and at some point it dawned on him that this just wasn’t going to happen. He finally pulled up his trousers. He was very angry and rushed over to his desk, pulled open a door, and had a reel-to-reel tape recorder going. He said to me, “Don’t tell anybody about this. I’ve got it all on tape.” I think he knew I was 16. 
 
 Jane,* 62 
 
 Former model/actress 
 
 It was around 1984; I was about 30. I had just arrived in New York. My agent was hoping to get me into broadcasting. I had an appointment with Ailes. He had a camera set up and a little desk and a script for me. It was a cooking kind of thing, talking about food and whatnot. After he taped me, he locked the door and said he didn’t want any interruptions. I figured out pretty quickly there was no job and this was just a ruse. 
 
 He pulled out a garter belt and stockings and told me to put them on. I was very nervous; I didn’t know what to do. He was standing there and I put them on. He wanted me to model them for him. After that, something sexual took place, but I blocked it out of my mind. I don’t know if I engaged with him orally or he engaged with himself. I felt I was being used for his sexual satisfaction. I felt very threatened. He wanted me to take the lingerie home for the next time. I said, “No, thank you, I don’t want to keep it for the next time.” I left and I knew I’d never return. Through the years I felt like a horrible person because I allowed this to happen to me and I didn’t just say “fuck off” and walk out of the room. My husband doesn’t even know. 
 
 Diane,* 69 
 
 Media consultant 
 
 This is something I’ve carried with me and haven’t told anybody. I was just appalled to read about Gretchen’s story and see how [Ailes] is behaving after 50 years. This was so long ago. I was in college doing some modeling work with an agency in the Philadelphia area. This would have been late ’65 or early ’66; I would have been 18 or 19 years old. A bunch of us girls at the agency were called over to audition for him for some sort of skit on The Mike Douglas Show. He had a room, and one by one he would take us behind closed doors. When my turn came I went in, and he didn’t waste any time. He grabbed me and had his hands on me and he forced me to kiss him. When I recoiled he said, “Well, you know no girls get a job here unless they’re cooperative.” I just pushed him away and ran out of there. He was like, whatever. So, no job for me. He did hire several of the girls from the group, but I don’t know what they had to do to get the job. 
 
 Pat,* 65 
 
 Former TV producer 
 
 It was 1975. I had a degree in mass communications. A college friend said, “Come to New York.” I got an interview with Roger Ailes. I remember I met him not at some big TV office — it was at his apartment on Central Park South. I don’t remember his exact words, but his message was: If you want to make it in New York City in the TV business, you’re going to have to fuck me, and you’re going to do that with anyone I tell you to. I was afraid he was going to pin me down. He was a big guy and I’m not big at all. He could have overpowered me. I remember running out of that apartment like my hair was on fire and standing on the sidewalk crying, thinking, What’s that guy think I was, a prostitute? In one second, my dreams were shot. He’s going to blackball me everywhere, I’ll never get another interview, I’m not good enough — all that stuff a 20-something girl thinks. It wasn’t, That guy’s a son of a bitch and I should have kicked him in the balls. 
 
 *Pseudonyms. 
 
 Update: Roger Ailes’s outside counsel, Barry Asen, has released the following statement regarding these new accounts:
– Gretchen Carlson will take $20 million off Fox News' hands, settling on Roger Ailes' behalf in response to Carlson's sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit, reports Vanity Fair. Included with the settlement is what the magazine calls an "unprecedented" public apology for Carlson, an apparent effort by Fox to show its commitment to cleaning up the unpalatable culture allegedly rampant under Ailes' reign. "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit," a Fox statement read, per Politico. "We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she & all our colleagues deserve." Vanity Fair notes that while Carlson's lawsuit was technically against Ailes, Fox serves as his insurer, and conversations between the Fox and Ailes camps about how much Ailes will have to pony up himself were said to be "tense" (there's no official word yet on what that figure will be). Sources tell Vanity Fair that two other women were also granted settlements, and that as part of Carlson's settlement, she's agreed not to take any more legal action against Fox or its execs. Carlson issued a statement saying she's "gratified" the company has taken "decisive action" regarding her suit. In related news: Ailes defender Greta Van Susteren abruptly left the network Tuesday, per Politico. No official word on why, though a source tells Politico it was for financial reasons. Meanwhile, Ailes' legal team has been threatening legal action against New York magazine and reporter Gabriel Sherman for what Deadline calls a "damning" article about Fox's sexual harassment issues.