Roger Ailes' unexpected death will likely complicate several pending lawsuits and a federal investigation into whether 21st Century Fox violated any securities laws in its handling of payments to women to resolve sexual harassment claims.
Federal investigators recently had widened their investigation to examine Ailes' activities when he was the powerful chairman of Fox News. There have been allegations that Ailes used intimidation tactics to suppress women from speaking out, and that the company even hired a private detective to dig up dirt on women who made allegations.
Investigators from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan and from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service have interviewed several women, including former director of special events Laurie Luhn, and even a high-ranking executive at 21st Century Fox, according to knowledgeable people.
U.S. investigators have been looking at whether Fox appropriately reported settlement payments to resolve sexual harassment claims to investors and which executives might have been involved in those payments.
Fox News has been in tumult since Ailes was fired in July after former on-air personality Gretchen Carlson sued him, claiming she was subjected to years of sexual harassment from the former powerful chairman of Fox News. The suit was settled for $20 million.
"The sudden passing of Roger Ailes will make it difficult for Fox News to refute the allegations against him as his testimony was not secured by sworn testimony to date," said Douglas Widgor, the lead attorney on several lawsuits that have been filed against Fox.
He said the firm's client Lidija Ujkic had claimed in her lawsuit that Ailes insisted that President Barack Obama was a Muslim who worked with terrorists and discussed "the Fox News recipe for success as showing women from the feet up."
On what impact Ailes' death will have on the cases, Nancy Erika Smith, the lawyer for Gretchen Carlson and other women who have filed complaints against Ailes and Fox News, said: "That's not a discussion for today."
