Latest news with #Mahway
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Silicon Beach exec alleges ‘shake down' by investor ousted during #MeToo era
A Silicon Beach entrepreneur and her investor are suing each other — part of a growing legal brawl that includes a dispute over a private jet, claims of a lesbian workplace affair and allegations of a sexual assault in a West Hollywood hotel. On May 14, Mahway founder Jessica Mah sued D Global Ventures Chief Executive Justin Caldbeck in Los Angeles Superior Court, saying he groped her and repeatedly solicited her for sex, then attempted extortion and defamed her to other investors when she rejected him. Hours after Mah's claim was docketed, Caldbeck filed his own suit, saying Mah 'seduced investors' with false promises and used money she raised to prop up her 'ersatz glamorous lifestyle' — including spending company cash on a private jet. 'Justin Caldbeck's claims collapse under the weight of the very documents he read, approved, and signed,' a spokesman for Mah said. 'Jessica Mah will not be intimidated. We expect the court to deliver a penalty to Caldbeck as substantial as his gross misconduct.' A spokesperson for Caldbeck, Sallie Hofmeister, countered with a statement that called Mah's lawsuit 'nothing more than a calculated effort ... to distract from credible accusations that they have misused millions of dollars of investor funds.' 'Nearly a year ago, she explicitly threatened to weaponize past allegations against Mr. Caldbeck if he pursued legal claims related to fraud and embezzlement against her,' Hofmeister said. Mah has maintained a jet-piloting, Lamborghini-racing, party-DJ persona on Instagram and tech industry podcasts. Caldbeck became an early face of Silicon Valley's #MeToo reckoning when he issued a public apology and left the company he co-founded after multiple Asian American entrepreneurs accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017. Their court battle — one of the ugliest to hit L.A.'s tech scene in years — erupted at a moment of cultural crisis for the industry. Many companies have abandoned efforts to root out 'bro culture,' with polarizing figures such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg embracing President Trump's anti-woke agenda. At the same time, economic uncertainty has led to mass layoffs and forced companies to do away with luxurious perks for employees. How Mah spends her company's money and treats her team is the focus of other ongoing litigation. On May 15, two former Mahway employees — ex-President Walter Delph and William Mulholland, who served as chief financial officer — sued her for wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation. Both are represented by Caldbeck's longtime lawyer, Ivo Labar. All three of the lawsuits filed against Mah allege that she 'holds herself out as a 'unicorn breeder,'' using an industry term for companies valued at more than $1 billion. 'In reality, Mah is a charlatan living on investors funds intended for Mahway's portfolio of startup companies, the majority of which are only 'unicorns' in the sense that they are also imaginary,' Caldbeck and Mulholland's suits both claim. The men's complaints accuse Mah of using company funds for personal expenses and structuring investment payouts to unfairly benefit her. Mahway is operated out of her rented West Hollywood mansion, with the company footing the bill, the suits allege. Mah said on a recent podcast appearance that the rental cost is $16,500 per month. Delph additionally accused Mah of age discrimination and sexual harassment, claiming she called him an 'old man' and carried on a public affair with Mahway founding partner Andrea Barrica — a relationship both women deny. According to Delph's suit, Mah 'would rub Barrica's upper inner thighs' during company meetings. That allegation is similar to one Mah leveled against Caldbeck. In her May 14 lawsuit, she alleged he 'touched the upper-most part of [her] thigh and put his hand next to her genitalia,' during a business meeting at the Pendry Hotel in 2022. Caldbeck's spokeswoman Hofmeister, who also represents Delph, called Mah's claims 'nothing more than a smokescreen to deflect attention' from the fraud allegations being leveled against her. 'Ms. Mah's lawsuit is meritless and the latest example of her bullying tactics,' Hofmeister said. Mah fired back at Delph on May 15 with a raft of civil conspiracy charges, filing a suit that alleged he colluded with Caldbeck and Mulholland to smear her and 'shake down' the company. The three men say their suits were filed independently of one another. Mulholland said he was forced to resign this year 'in order to avoid engaging in illegal activities at Mah's direction,' according to his May 15 suit. Barrica has also jumped into the fray, accusing Caldbeck of sexual harassment and extortion in a lawsuit filed May 20. Barrica claims he repeatedly tried to climb on top of her and kiss her in an Uber after a business meeting in Paris. The Mahway executive says Caldbeck tried to 'leverage his repulsive behavior by threatening to spread objectively false allegations that Ms. Barrica was in a sexual and romantic relationship' with Mah. Barrica alleges Caldbeck pressured her to join his 'unhinged and baseless campaign to destroy Ms. Mah.' According to Barrica's complaint — filed by Mah's longtime lawyer— when Mah learned of the alleged incident, she confided about her own experiences with Caldbeck. The two women agreed to try to maintain a professional relationship with the investor while limiting contact, Barrica's suit said. That seemed to work until a blowup over executive payouts in September. Days before the first complaints were filed in the spring, Barrica reached out to Caldbeck 'to make one last appeal for peace,' according to her complaint. By Barrica's account, the truce offer didn't go over well. 'Even if Jess said that I raped her, I wouldn't care,' Caldbeck said, according to Barrica's suit. 'My investors wouldn't care either.' According to Mulholland's and Delph's suits, Caldbeck's spat with Mah over payouts led the executives to probe the company's operations. Both said in their claims they concluded she was bilking investors. Delph contends in his complaint that he was fired after raising those concerns to his boss. Mulholland felt forced to resign amid growing fear he would be left holding the bag for Mah's misdeeds, per his suit. Caldbeck's suit said his investment company has 'suffered millions of dollars in damages' from Mahway's mismanagement. His spokeswoman said he looks forward to setting the record straight. 'Mr. Caldbeck is confident the truth will continue to emerge and Ms. Mah's allegations will be shown for what they are,' Hofmeister said.
Business Insider
17-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
LA businesswoman and an investor with #MeToo past file dueling lawsuits
Los Angeles entrepreneur and investor Jessica Mah is embroiled in bitter legal disputes with two former executives of her company and with D Global Ventures, a firm led by Justin Caldbeck, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist who admitted to sexually harassing female investors in 2017. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court this week, Mah accused Caldbeck of sexually harassing her and of seeking to defame her over a dispute about an investment he made in a corporate entity she controlled. Meanwhile, in three separate lawsuits, two ex-senior executives at Mah's investment firm Mahway — former CFO William Mulholland and former president Walter Delph — as well as Caldbeck's firm DGV, made a wide array of allegations against Mah. These include claims from all three that she misappropriated company funds, including to pay for a new private jet and trips to Burning Man; claims by Delph of inappropriate sexual conversations in the workplace and discriminatory comments about older workers; and claims from Mulholland of a concealed romantic relationship between Mah and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Mah, who says she has been programming since middle school, was featured on Forbes' "30 under 30" list in 2012 and was on the front page of Inc magazine in 2015. She founded inDinero, a fintech startup that created a financial dashboard for businesses, and then her VC firm called Mahway, which she has called a "venture builder. Caldbeck, who also worked at Bain Capital Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures, resigned from the fund he founded, Binary Capital, in 2017 after a group of women shared accusations of sexual harassment. Caldbeck admitted to his inappropriate behavior toward female founders and investors. In a statement Friday, Mah said she had spent months trying to resolve the dispute with Caldbeck privately before filing suit. "I recognize the risks and backlash that may follow, and I've made peace with the consequences," she said. "This is not a step I take lightly. I believe in doing business with transparency, accountability, and clarity — and I will always stand up for those values, regardless of how uncomfortable it may be." In an emailed statement, Caldbeck spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister denied the claims of sexual misconduct. "Mr. Caldbeck never made sexual advances toward Ms. Mah," she wrote. In her complaint, Mah alleges that Caldbeck sexually harassed her in 2022. "After consuming several drinks during a business meeting at the restaurant at the Pendry Hotel in West Hollywood, California, Mr. Caldbeck touched the upper-most part of Ms. Mah's thigh and put his hand next to her genitalia," the complaint says. It goes on to allege that Caldbeck repeatedly asked Mah if she was sexually interested in him and discussed his sexual relationships with other women. Mah alleges in the suit that Caldbeck misled his own investors about the nature of his investment in one of her entities, and then "screamed at her and demanded she immediately pay him three times his initial investment." When she refused, the suit says, he told her that "I'm going to destroy you" and defamed her to others. Her complaint alleges extortion, sexual harassment, and defamation, among other claims. All three cases against Mah, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday and Thursday by San Francisco-based law firm Sawyer & Labar LLC, accuse her of improperly using company funds to pay for her personal life. The claims variously include leasing a Lamborghini, vacation trips to Burning Man and Park City, covering rent for her home, paying for personal chefs and landscaping services, and paying for a personal jet despite employees' objections. Hofmeister, also a spokesperson for Mulholland and Delph, declined to comment on their lawsuits. "Mah is more interested in living an ersatz glamorous lifestyle than investing," the DGV complaint read. "The result of Mah's dereliction of duty was predictable for the Company and its investors: investments were not as fruitful, making no real progress, while Mah seduced investors with misleading and often contradictory representations in quarterly investor reports." Delph's complaint alleges that workers were required to work from Mah's home, and that her friends and sexual partners would visit during the workday and walk around "in various stages of undress." Mah would talk about sexual encounters with her employees, amounting to sexual harassment, the suit says. Delph also alleges that Mah called him an "old man" and "ridiculed" him because of his age. Mulholland's complaint alleges that an investor in Mahway complained that Mah had been "concealing her former sexual relationship with Eric Schmidt, the largest Mahway investor and former CEO of Google, in order to make Mahway appear like a legitimate investment opportunity." A spokesperson for Schmidt declined to comment on the purported relationship. DGV's complaint claims that Mah "misled" the firm into falsely believing that Schmidt's family office had invested in Mahway. However, Schmidt's spokesperson said this is false, and that Schmidt was indeed an investor. Delph claims to have been fired after raising concerns to Mah internally at a management meeting, while Mulholland's suit says he felt forced to resign because Mah "was ordering him to break the law by concealing and/or misrepresenting material facts while engaging in general solicitation of investors in an unregistered security." The claims in Delph's complaint include whistleblower retaliation, wrongful termination, age discrimination and sexual harassment. Mulholland claims constructive discharge and whistleblower retaliation, among other claims. And DGV's claims include breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, civil theft, and sale of unregistered securities. Additional reporting by Jack Newsham.
