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Matt Lauer in 2017.

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Topline: An NBC employee whose allegations against Matt Lauer led to his dismissal from the network says the former Today anchor raped her during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, according to an upcoming book by Ronan Farrow (and covered by multiple outlet s).

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  • The woman's identity, Brooke Nevils, and the graphic details of her allegations against Lauer, are reported for the first time in Farrow's Catch and Kill (Variety first reported on book's exclusives, which will be released on October 15).
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  • Nevils, who no longer works at NBC, told Farrow that Lauer raped her in a hotel room during the 2014 Olympics, and that the encounter was nonconsensual because she was intoxicated and she tried to stop Lauer "multiple times."
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  • She said she had additional sexual encounters with Lauer, calling them "transactional," and that she feared the power Lauer had over her career, according to the reports.
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  • After Nevils' encounters with Lauer stopped, she told Meredith Vieira, the Today anchor she worked with at Sochi, who encouraged her to go to NBC's human resources department.
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  • Accompanied by a lawyer, Nevils did tell human resources, and Lauer was fired about one day later, according to the reports.
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  • Through his lawyer, Lauer released a lengthy open letter describing Nevils' allegations as "categorically false" and "filled with false details," and that their sexual encounters were "mutual" and "consensual."
Reactions:

NBC News in a statement: "Matt Lauer's conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That's why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague."

Key background: Lauer's 2017 firing from NBC happened after an employee came forward "reporting behavior in violation" of the company's standards. But that employee's identity was unknown until Farrow interviewed Nevils on the record for Catch And Kill. At the time of Lauer's firing, NBC network had agreed to keep Nevils' identity secret, per her request. And the network also categorized Nevils' story as a "consensual affair," according to the Washington Post.

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I'm a New York-based journalist covering breaking news at Forbes. I hold a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Previous bylines: G

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