A former assistant at a well-known New York City investment bank is suing her previous employer, alleging that she got fired promptly after complaining about walking in on her boss masturbating in a conference room. Besides, the female employee also has claimed that her sex-obsessed boss regularly harassed her and would touch her inappropriately in front of other male colleagues in the office.
Although the incident took place a couple of months ago, it came to light only now after the lawsuit was filed. The alleged incident was detailed in a sexual harassment and hostile work environment lawsuit filed on her behalf in Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday.
Pervert Boss
Logan Williams claims in her lawsuit she caught Chuck Hinckley, one of the managing directors at Marathon Capital, masturbating in a conference room at the firm's New York City offices on July 23. Williams, who worked as a first-year analyst in the bank, also claims Hinckley regularly screamed at her to "shut up," shared unwelcome details about his sex life and got too close to her at the office during the pandemic.
Williams claims Hinckley would often complain that his wife no longer had sex with him, making him a regular user of so-called "sugar daddy" sex web sites. Things got more difficult for Williams during the pandemic when she had to work in close proximity to Hinckley. He lived in Connecticut but during the week stayed in a New York hotel, which he allegedly used to "entertain prostitutes," according to the suit.
Unable to tolerate Hinckley's behavior, Williams on July 13 texted the firm's CEO Ted Brandt and operating chief Philippe Lavertu that she planned to work from home more because Hinckley had forced her to share an office and followed her if she moved around, invading her space.
However, 10 days later, Williams told Hinckley she was coming to office to pick up a few personal belongings and also show him a presentation. Upon entering the conference room she found Hinckley masturbating and "observed an extremely surprised look" on his face.
"Mr. Hinckley, who had a look of shock on his face, began to desperately attempt to push his penis back into his pants with his left hand. He was simultaneously moving his computer mouse with his right hand, apparently in an effort to close whatever was open (probably pornography) on his screen," the lawsuit mentions. "Ms. Williams left the room immediately, mortified." The lawsuit states that, after being caught, Hinckley didn't apologize and insisted Williams sit next to him for over an hour to discuss work material.
Hostile Work Environment
Williams says that she endured a "discriminatory and sexually hostile work environment" during her one-year tenure and had also complained about it to higher authorities. She attached to her complaint text messages she claims show that she immediately reached out to multiple people about the incident. "Pants down and all?" one managing director replied. "Hostile work environment." "Omg hahaha," another executive replied.
However, her complaints fell on deaf years. Instead, she claims the Brandt threatened to fire her for speaking out against the mistreatment. According to the lawsuit, Williams, a Coast Guard veteran and Columbia grad, continued to email and text Marathon's leadership demanding justice, including an August 6 message to Brandt, where she stated: "Ted, the New York office is not Chuck's sexual playground."
On August 22, Williams texted the CEO again raising concerns about the integrity of his financial dealing and reiterating her complaints against Hinckley. Two days later, she was fired for communicating with colleagues and violating a gag order as part of the bank's internal investigation of the masturbating incident.
She also claims she got a threatening call from a protected number in which someone posing as a police officer told her to keep quiet or "something very bad will happen to you." Hinckley hasn't made any comments on the allegations yet.
