60 Minutes producer Jeff Fager leaves CBS following new sexual misconduct allegation

Another major figure at CBS is leaving the network amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Just three days after CEO Les Moonves stepped down in disgrace, 60 Minutes producer Jeff Fager is now leaving as well, Deadline reports. On Sunday, Fager was accused by a woman of groping her at a company party — the seventh such allegation against him. But CBS News chief David Rhodes said in a statement Wednesday that Fager's departure "is not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports." Instead, Rhodes said, Fager "violated company policy."

While CBS didn't specify which company policy Fager violated, Fager himself told CNN on Wednesday that he "sent a text message to one of our own CBS reporters demanding that she be fair in covering the story." Fager added that CBS did not approve of the "harsh" language he used.

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In Ronan Farrow's bombshell CBS exposé published by The New Yorker in July, 19 current or former CBS workers accused Fager of allowing sexual harassment to persist at the network. Additionally, six sources told Farrow that Fager inappropriately touched employees or made sexual advances towards them while intoxicated at company parties. On Sunday, Farrow published a follow-up article with six new allegations against Moonves and one new one against Fager, which led to the departure of both men this week.

Bill Owens will now take over for the 36-year CBS veteran while the network searches for a permanent replacement. Read more at Deadline.