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Report: Roger Ailes Secretly Buys $36M Beachfront Home in Florida

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Report: Roger Ailes Secretly Buys $36M Beachfront Home in Florida Image: Report: Roger Ailes Secretly Buys $36M Beachfront Home in Florida Roger Ailes (Andrew Toth/Getty Images)

Former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes is the secret buyer of a $36 million beachfront Florida home that could be used to shield him from future lawsuits, according to news reports.

The two-story, modern-style home in Palm Beach was obtained by Palm Beach County estate lawyer Ron Kochman through a trust with City National Bank of Florida, DailyMail.com reports.

Under Florida law, courts cannot force a sale of a residence to satisfy judgments, the Mail reports, and the statute has often been used by wealthy individuals to buy real estate.

Neither Ailes nor his wife, Elizabeth, is listed in official records, according to the report.

'The purchase has been very hush-hush on the island,' the DailyMail quoted a law source in Miami as saying. 'He's been looking for real estate in South Florida very aggressively because he is worried about getting hit with a huge judgment.'

Kochman declined to comment to DailyMail.com before immediately hanging up the telephone.

Ailes, 76, settled a lawsuit brought by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, reportedly for $20 million.

Carlson, 50, alleged sexual harassment and discrimination — and it led to Ailes' resignation within weeks after it was filed in July.

Alies had denied the allegations. He reportedly received a $40 million payout when he left Fox but remains a consultant to the network through 2018.

In addition, former anchor Andrea Tantaros, 37, sued Ailes and Fox News in August, also accusing the former CEO of sexual harassment.

Fox News has slammed Tantaros as an 'opportunist' and a 'wannabe.'

The network said that Tantaros made up the claims in her lawsuit after the company took her off the air for writing a book without permission. Ailes has also denied those accusations.

According to DailyMail.com, Alies' home is located on Ocean Lane in Palm Beach.

It was first listed as $42 million in January. The final price was cut by $6 million.

The home was finished last year — and it spans 12,747 square feet, contains six bedrooms and includes an elevator to move between the two floors.

According to county real estate records, the property overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and features 94 feet of beachfront land and spans nearly an acre.

The two lots comprising the property were first purchased by Mark Timothy Pulte LLC, the Atlanta-based luxury homebuilder, in 2013 for $12 million.

Ailes has owned property in Palm Beach County before, DailyMail.com reports.

It includes a beachfront condo on Singer Island that he sold to Fox Business News anchor Neil Cavuto in 2003 for $525,000.

In past real estate transactions Ailes has used the Miami law firm of Kramer & Golden.

Richard Golden, the firm's owner, did not return calls seeking comment on the recent purchase, the DailyMail reports, and neither did Susan Estrich.

Estrich, a Los Angeles lawyer, was hired by Ailes in the Carlson and Tantaros lawsuits.

Waterfront Properties, the real estate firm that represented Ailes in the transaction, also did not return calls for comment, according to DailyMail.com.