Unicorn Carta sees lawsuits stack up as two more female employees make serious claims against company (Fortune)
Carta, the equity management startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and last valued at $7.4 billion, has become entangled in an astounding web of litigation, including, in one recently filed case, allegations of groping by one of its senior executives.
Two former employees, both of whom are women, have filed separate claims in San Francisco’s Superior Court in recent months against Carta, neither of which has been previously reported, alleging instances of sexual harrassment or sex discrimination, according to the complaints reviewed by Fortune. That’s on top of two ongoing lawsuits Carta has initiated against two of its former executives, as well as a gender discrimination lawsuit that the company settled earlier this year.
The most recent lawsuit, filed in August by former sales manager Alexandra Rogers, accuses Chief Revenue Officer Jeff Perry of inappropriately touching her leg at work events and accuses both Perry and CEO Henry Ward of engaging “in a sustained pattern of sexual harassment and retaliation” that led to her termination (Ward was later dismissed as a defendant in the lawsuit). The second former employee, Amanda Sheets, lodged a complaint against the company in May, accusing Carta and Perry of discriminating against her based on her gender, and treating her request for a disability accommodation differently than for male peers.
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Earlier this year, Carta settled high-profile claims filed by Carta’s former vice president of marketing, Emily Kramer, who had sued the company for discrimination and wrongful termination. There are two ongoing lawsuits that Carta has filed against two former executives. At the end of last year, it filed a suit against its former Chief Technology Officer, Jerry Talton, over recordings he allegedly took of a conversation with Carta’s general counsel and other executives. (“The allegations towards Jerry Talton are totally false in every respect and are fueled by revenge from Henry Ward,” Talton’s attorney, Ann Olivarius, says of the claims). And, more recently, Carta sued its former Chief Product Officer, Heidi Johnson, demanding she turn over those same recordings. (Johnson didn’t return a request for comment)