Tucker Carlson producer accused of sexual abuse by former Fox employee

A former Fox News employee claims in a new civil lawsuit that Tucker Carlson’s top producer Justin Wells sexually assaulted him in 2008.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court Monday and invoked New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which gave plaintiffs one year to file civil claims for sexual abuse regardless of the statute of limitations.

Andrew Delancey, a former regional producer for partner service Fox News Edge, claimed that Wells contacted him in 2007 through a Facebook group of Fox employees. At the time, Delancey worked at Fox 13 in Tampa Bay and Wells was a producer at Fox 5 in New York. The following year, Wells encouraged Delancey to move to New York, and Delancey sent him his resume, the lawsuit says. He eventually landed a position as a producer on the Fox News Edge team, starting in September 2008.

According to the lawsuit, Wells began “showering” Delancey with gifts, including a large box of Fox News Edge merchandise with personally signed pencils and notebooks. Wells then worked on Greta Van Susteren’s film On the plate.

“Wells told Mr. Delancey that he would help him ‘learn the ropes,’ and made it clear that Wells was listening intently to Fox’s top executives,” the lawsuit states. “Therefore, Mr. Delancey had a reasonable impression that he needed to stay on Wells’ good side in order to be successful at Fox.”

According to the lawsuit, Delancey found it difficult to make ends meet in New York on a salary of $45,000 and asked Wells if he knew of other higher-paying jobs. Wells arranged an interview with an NBC station and complained that he was putting in a “good word” for others at Fox News.

Wells also invited Delancey to meet with him and his colleagues at the Barracuda Lounge near Wells’ apartment, the complaint states. When Delancey arrived, Wells invited him to the apartment for a “pregame” cocktail, the lawsuit states. Delancey “knew that Wells was in a relationship and did not believe that anything unusual would happen.” Furthermore, based on Wells’ statements, Mr. Delancey expected the arrival of other colleagues. Unfortunately, no one has done it yet.”

In the lawsuit, Delancey claimed that when he entered Wells’ studio apartment and Wells got him a drink, he then “aggressively” pushed him onto his bed, where he forcibly stuck his tongue in his mouth. Delancey claimed that Wells then “in the course of the attack, Mr. Delancey’s jeans started unbuttoning and tried to remove them.” At the same time, Wells aggressively mr. grabbed Delancey’s genitals, causing him severe pain.

After Delancey told him to pull over and reminded Wells that he had a boyfriend, Wells invited him to the roof of the apartment to show him the view, the complaint states. Hoping for an opportunity to leave the apartment, Delancey then went upstairs with Wells, the lawsuit states. Wells then grabbed him from behind, grabbed Delancey and jammed his hands down the front of his pants as he tried to unbutton his jeans again, the lawsuit states.

Delancey said he then withdrew and no longer wanted to go to the Barracuda Lounge. “Wells was visibly upset by Mr. Delancey’s continued refusal to submit to Wells’ aggressive sexual advances,” the lawsuit states.

Wells’ attorney Harmeet Dhillon did not immediately comment to Deadline, but told Mediaite in a statement: “This baseless lawsuit was filed 15 years after the alleged incident and just days before the extended statute of limitations began. Mr. Wells clearly denies the allegations and will vigorously deny them. This is yet another attempt by a law firm that has sued Fox and its former employees in the past to profit from frivolous allegations.”

The lawsuit was filed by Filippatos PLLC. The employment law firm represented a former Fox News producer, Abby Grossberg, who cooperated Tucker Carlson tonight. In June, she settled her lawsuit against the network for $12 million after claiming she was bullied because of her gender and Jewish religion. Carlson, Wells and another producer, Alexander McCaskill, were also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also brought Fox News and Fox Corp. called. named as defendant. A spokesperson for the network had no immediate comment. Shortly after Carlson’s show was canceled at Fox, Wells left the network and is now working on the former Fox host’s X/Twitter show.

The lawsuit alleged that his supervisor, Mykel McCarthy, warned him not to report concerns to Fox’s human resources department and “made him swear not to report any inappropriate behavior he observed at regularly scheduled social events with employees .” Delancey told another co-worker what happened, the lawsuit says, and she said she was sexually harassed by Wells.

Delancey was also not offered the position at the NBC network, and the lawsuit alleged that Wells “informed the interviewer not to hire Mr. Delancey and/or withdrew his recommendation.” Delancey eventually returned to his position at the Fox station in Tampa.

In 2017, just as the MeToo movement was gaining momentum, Delancey posted on Facebook about the alleged assault but did not name Wells. The lawsuit alleged that Wells had been messaging him even though he had not been in touch for years. The message read: “Hey. I saw your message. I’m sorry this happened to you. Who was that?” “The plaintiff was too shocked to respond,” the lawsuit states.

Delancey is seeking unspecified damages. It noted that the lawsuit was filed in New York state court before the Adult Survivors Act deadline.