Fox News agrees to pay $12 million to settle ex-producer's lawsuit alleging 'sexist' work environment

• Fox News agreed to pay $12 million to settle a hostile workplace lawsuit from Abby Grossberg.
• Grossberg alleged she experienced a "sexist" environment at Fox and says lawyers coerced her testimony for Dominion's lawsuit.
• She may still play a role in the Justice Department's investigation into Trump.

Fox News has agreed to pay $12 million to settle a hostile workplace lawsuit from Abby Grossberg, a former producer for host Maria Bartiromo and now-former host Tucker Carlson.

Grossberg's attorney Parisis Filippatos confirmed the settlement to Insider. The New York Times first reported on the details.

"While I stand by my publicly filed claims and allegations, in light of today's settlement of $12 million, pursuant to which I have now withdrawn those claims, I am heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously," Grossberg said in a statement. "I am hopeful, based on our discussions with Fox News today, that this resolution represents a positive step by the Network regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace."

Grossberg filed two explosive lawsuits against Fox News in March, leading Fox to fire her.

One lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, alleged rampant workplace sexism. She said staffers on Carlson's show made sexist and antisemitic remarks and plastered photos around the office of Nancy Pelosi in a bathing suit "revealing her cleavage," and that an executive undermined Bartiromo because of her sex.

In the other lawsuit, filed in Delaware state court, Grossberg alleged that Fox News lawyers coerced her into giving false deposition testimony for Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against the network over false election conspiracy theories. She said that, if her deposition testimony was honest, she would have called some Fox News employees "activists, not journalists."

Grossberg withdrew her Delaware lawsuit shortly after Fox agreed to settle Dominion's lawsuit for the record-breaking sum of $787.5 million. Friday's settlement now means that the New York lawsuit will be dismissed if a judge accepts the terms.

"We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation," a representative for Fox News said in a statement.

Grossberg's case threw a wrench in the lawsuit between Dominion and Fox News. She claimed to have — and disclosed some — records appearing to show that Fox News producers and hosts knew that Rudy Giuliani, a central figure in the case, was uncertain about the conspiracy theories he pushed about Dominion. According to her filings, Fox News withheld the records from Dominion as the case went to trial. (A Fox News spokesperson said it complied with all its discovery obligations.)

Court filings from Grossberg's litigation also underscored how tightly wound Fox News hosts were with Republican party officials. Text messages showed how Carlson helped broker the deal that made Kevin McCarthy House Speaker after 14 failed rounds of votes.

Fox News fired Carlson and Wells, a top producer on his show and a defendant in the lawsuit, in April.

Grossberg may still play an instrumental role in another defamation lawsuit against Fox News from Smartmatic, which was also implicated in false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. She is also cooperating with Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation into former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Filippatos told the Times.

"I am certain that we will hear much from Abby in the future once she has taken some much-needed personal time to process the momentous events in her life over the past few years," Filippatos said in a statement.

This story has been updated.