He also allegedly summoned another female colleague to his office, dropped his pants and showed her his penis. Lauer then allegedly scolded her when she rejected his sexual advances.
Lauer was one of the highest paid news anchors in the world - and in March it was revealed he paid $13m for a high country station in New Zealand's South Island on the shore of Lake Hawea.
The big-earning star also allegedly asked female producers about who they'd had sex with — and named co-hosts he'd like to sleep with during a game called "f***, marry or kill".
"For Lauer, work and sex were intertwined," the Variety report alleges. The anchor was "fixated on women, especially their bodies and looks".
TMZ today unearthed footage from 2006 that showed Lauer whispering a lewd aside to fellow presenter Katie Couric: "Keep bending over like that. It's a nice view," he told her, as they prepared to film a segment together.
Years later, in an interview with Andy Cohen, Couric said that her former colleague had an annoying habit of "pinching her ass a lot".
Several women told Variety they'd complained to NBC executives about Lauer's behaviour during their time working with him, but that their complaints were ignored.
As the allegations surfaced this morning, it was the disturbing detail of Lauer's secret desk button that shocked many:
One former NBC exec claims Lauer was not alone in having this feature in his office.
Lauer's "heartbroken" co-hosts learned of his axing just moments before going on air to report the news.
Savannah Guthrie has been co-anchor of Today alongside Lauer for the past five years, but this morning was joined at the desk by fellow presenter Hoda Kotb.
"We just learned this moments ago, just this morning. As I'm sure you can imagine, we are devastated, and we are still processing all of this," said Guthrie.
