Fox’s legal head to step down in another major exit after Dominion settlement

(Reuters) -Fox Corp said on Friday that Chief Legal Officer Viet Dinh was stepping down, a high-profile exit that follows its $787.5 million settlement in April of a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over its 2020 U.S. election coverage.

Dinh, who will exit the role at the end of 2023, joined Fox in 2018 and headed its legal and compliance divisions during the months-long legal battle sparked by the network’s coverage of false claims that Dominion rigged the election.

The move marks another major departure at the network since the settlement. Top-rated host Tucker Carlson agreed to part ways with Fox in April, just days after the legal resolution.

As part of a separation agreement, Dinh will get a lump-sum cash payment of $23 million, Fox said. He will become a special adviser to the company after leaving the role of legal head.

He was a former U.S. attorney general under President George W Bush and an architect of the Patriot Act, the U.S. national security law enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

He founded Bancroft PLLC, a small Washington, D.C.-based litigation firm known for advocating conservative causes that was acquired by Kirkland & Ellis in 2016. Dinh’s clients as a defense lawyer included billionaire real estate developer Ng Lap Seng, who was convicted of bribery in 2017.

In June, Fox Corp also settled a lawsuit by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who claimed gender discrimination and accused the network’s lawyers of pressuring her to make misleading statements in the Dominion Voting Systems case.