Fox Corp.’s top lawyer and a close aide to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch is stepping down in the company’s biggest management shift since its $787.5 million settlement of defamation claims by Dominion Voting Systems.
(Bloomberg) — Fox Corp.’s top lawyer and a close aide to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch is stepping down in the company’s biggest management shift since its $787.5 million settlement of defamation claims by Dominion Voting Systems.
Viet Dinh, Fox’s chief legal and policy officer, will depart that role on Dec. 31 and become a special adviser to the company. As part of his separation agreement, Dinh will receive a $23 million lump-sum payment. He will also be paid $2.5 million a year as an adviser under a two-year contract.
Dinh is the second major figure to depart Fox in the wake of its April settlement of Dominion’s suit over Fox News’s airing of 2020 election fraud claims. In May, Tucker Carlson, the network’s most popular host, was fired. Fox News still faces another defamation suit by another voting machine maker, Smartmatic Corp., which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages over claims of rigged voting.
“We appreciate Viet’s many contributions and service to Fox as both a board member of 21st Century Fox and in his role over the last five years as a valued member of Fox’s leadership team,” Fox Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch, said in a statement. “We are grateful that he will continue to serve Fox as special adviser where we will benefit from his counsel.”
A former Justice Department official and top Washington lawyer, Dinh had risen into the Murdochs’ inner circle at Fox, becoming a trusted adviser to the moguls. But the New York Times reported in May that Dinh was facing criticism over his assurances to the Fox board that the company would ultimately prevail in the case, on appeal if not at trial, citing court records and interviews with about a dozen people involved in the case.
Dinh was assistant US attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. After leaving the government, Dinh went on to found Bancroft PLLC, a high-powered Washington litigation boutique known for taking cases on behalf of conservative groups. The firm, which led Supreme Court challenges against both Obamacare, was acquired by Kirkland & Ellis in 2016. Dinh joined Fox in 2018.
–With assistance from Christopher Palmeri.
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