Embattled Viacom chief Sumner Redstone is facing even more pressure now that a prominent former employee is threatening to sue for harassment, Page Six has learned.
The woman worked closely with the 87-year-old billionaire prior to Viacom’s split with CBS in 2006. She has hired powerhouse attorney Anne Vladeck, who represented Anucha Browne Sanders in a sexual harassment suit against Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden in 2007 — resulting in an $11.6 million payout to Sanders.
A source told us, “The woman was a senior executive at Viacom Inc. and is now ready to sue for harassment. She has made her complaint to Viacom and CBS.
“Her complaint is currently being reviewed by lawyers in-house, but the real threat is that papers will be filed with the court if a settlement is not reached, which could be hugely embarrassing for Redstone.”
Reps for Redstone, Viacom and CBS all declined to comment. Vladeck also declined to comment, asking us to call back but then refusing to take our calls last night.
Meanwhile, fresh reports claimed Redstone gave a pretty young woman, Rohini Singh, a large stock package — the second
to emerge in recent days — forcing Showtime to put her on the payroll when the company was in the midst of a hiring freeze.
Redstone — who’s in the middle of a firestorm for his insistence that Viacom’s MTV create a reality show about his favorite raunchy all-girl band, the Electric Barbarellas
— put Singh in the publicity office at Showtime last summer, according to the Daily Beast Web site.
It was also reported that Redstone gave Singh 2,522 shares of Class B Viacom stock that she sold in March for just less than $77,000.
A rep for Redstone, whose fortune is estimated at $9 billion, also declined to comment on Singh.