Mark Zuckerberg's Personal Security Manager has been accused of sexual harassment and racist, homophobic comments from two former members of Facebook's CEO's private staff, Business Insider has learned. They argue, among other things, that the security officer repeatedly made racist remarks about Zuckerberg's Asian wife Priscilla Chan.
One of the accusers is a former employee of the 34-year-old billionaire household staff, who was responsible for preparing Zuckerberg's various homes for the family's arrival; the other is a former executive assistant to the security manager, Liam Booth. Both have retained the law firm of California lawyer Lisa Bloom, whose legal efforts on behalf of Bill O & # 39; Reilly's victims in 201[ads1]7 helped get the TV host fired from Fox News, according to legal requirements letter reviewed by Business Insider.
The letters that Bloom sent to a law firm representing the companies providing security and support to Zuckerberg's family, tell a litany claim of Booth, a former secret service agent responsible for monitoring the security of Zuckerberg's household and his non-Facebook – related businesses. They describe "pervasive discriminatory behavior", "terrible levels of sexual harassment and battery", and an environment in which support personnel were repeatedly exposed to racist, homophobic and transphobic diatribes.
The letters also accuse Brian Mosteller, CEO of Zuckerberg's private office and a former special assistant to US President Barack Obama, not to act after the two employees have complained. There is no claim that Zuckerberg himself was aware of the alleged harassment.
The allegations are remarkable because they document open racism and sexual unhappiness within the most intimate limitations of an infamous private and incredible wealthy family. Although Facebook has been rocked by public scandals over the past two years, Zuckerberg has kept his family isolated from the outcome. But the accusations against Booth and Mosteller have the potential to bring another crisis to the center of his domestic affairs, representing a potentially deep failure of trust from the part of the man that Zuckerberg takes to protect his children's safety. Facebook spends $ 20 million annually on its personal protection and travel.
"The family office complains about the workplace default very seriously, and our staff team immediately identifies all such cases," said Zuckerberg family office spokesman Ben LaBolt in a statement to Business Insider. "The allegations against Liam Booth were informed for the office's first time by The Bloom Firm after both former employees had left employment of the family office and engaged lawyer. As soon as The Bloom Firm presented these claims, the family office was engaged Munger, Tolles & Olson, an external law firm , to conduct a survey of all the claims of The Bloom Firm to determine whether the claims have been credited. The investigation is ongoing. Mr. Booth is on administrative leave pending the completion of this investigation. "
Sally Mitchell, senior lawyer at The Bloom Firm, confirmed to Business Insider that the former employees were company customers and refused to comment further. One of the people referred a request to Mitchell. The other did not respond to several requests for comment. Business Insider does not identify them because they claim to be victims of sexual harassment and have not made their claims public. Booth referred questions to LaBolt, and Mosteller did not respond to text and a conversation. Munger, Tolles & Olson did not respond to several emails asking for comment.
Reported Notes on Priscilla Chan and Black Life Matter: "White Life Means More Than Black Life"
Booth leads up the security operations for Zuckerberg's personal infrastructure while working as chief security officer for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Zuckerberg and Chen's philanthropic vehicles . He has previously worked for the US Secret Service between 2001 and 2017, including a five-year stint working to "monitor the physical protection of the president and the first US family" in the Obama years, according to his LinkedIn profile. 19659002] The two individuals who accuse Booth of Waned work for two different Zuckerberg affiliates, one of which handles security and the other household cases.
One of the demand letters claims that Booth made racist remarks to the housekeeping staff about Priscilla Khan's affection, including that "she is a woman and Asian, and Asians have no peripheral vision" as he pulls the eyelids aside in a racist caricature.
The second letter tells a number of racist remarks allegedly made by Booth to the security staff. On a more than one occasion, the letter says, Booth told the employee that he "does not trust in black people" and that "white life means more than black life." The letter also claims that Booth bragged about deliberately attempting to undermine Priscilla Khan's diversity goals in hiring, and "complain [ed] about the number of black people who worked in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative." When the security personnel protested against this remark, Booth's "angry lawyer [ed] says against workplace diversity and the Black Lives Matters movement, which he called" reverse racism. "
A source who has worked around Booth who wanted to remain anonymous, told Business Insider that they had also heard Booth claim that "Asians can't drive" and disparage Chan because of her ethnicity.
Facebook manager Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan in 2016. AP Photo / Jeff Chiu, File
Accusations of sexual harassment and homophobia: "I'll feed you something raw"
Both letters also accuse Booth of sexual harassment and homophobic behavior, in an event in July 2018 at the sushi restaurant Nobu, a letter claim, Booth grabbed his own step and told the housekeepers, who are gay, "I'll feed you something raw." Later on the same event, co-workers claim, Booth relieved the staff's steps and fell into his shooter and asked, "Are you still hungry?" Booth has also made other homophobic remarks and played about the size of the employee's penis in front of other employees.
The letters also claim repeated instances of sexual harassment against security personnel. On one occasion, Booth decided that a shirt the staff was wearing was "distracting" and made him "uncomfortable". Instead of addressing the issue directly, the letter says Booth was trying to get other employees to tell her, including household employees, because "he was gay."
The security staff also accused Booth's aide, Laura McClain, of asking her to bow so that she could see her rails.
Both letters claim that Booth repeatedly maintains a transgender staff and refers to the person as "the" rather than their preferred pronoun. When security staff were concerned about taking transcendent worker identification to the local post office to get authorization to retrieve Zuckerberg's e-mail, Booth allegedly said, "Keep it from me." When security staff protested, Booth said he said, "Just shut my door when it comes in here."
Both prosecutors say complaints were ignored: "Men are in force here"
Both letters say that employees repeatedly raised objections to Booth's behavior but were ignored. A human resource member has reportedly told security staff on various occasions that "men are in force here" and that the problems she raised "did not show a stop."
Housekeeping staff complained to their manager, Brian Mosteller, several times about Booth's behavior, and "reached out to Priscilla Chan to reveal to her the damaging illegal behavior that took place in the family's business," but nothing was done. According to the letters, he was put on sick leave and offered a departure package on February 22 and finally resigned. It is not clear whether his efforts to reach Chan were successful or whether she was made aware of his concerns.
Booth fired the security staff on February 20, the letters say, allegedly to tell another employee about a negative writing she had received and to "roll her eyes on a meeting."
The letters require compensation for lost wages, as well as injuries for emotional distress. A source near the case told Business Insider that Booth's conduct had previously been investigated by the Human Resources department of Iconiq Capital, the securities management and investment company that established and manages the scattered website of units managing Zuckerberg's household affairs.
If the claims are true, the episode raises the question of why Iconiq failed to act earlier. The company also handles reporting on other A-list Silicon Valley characters such as Jack Dorsey, Sheryl Sandberg and Reid Hoffman, and whose founder Divesh Makan was once described by Forbes as "Consigliere to Silicon Valley's brightest billionaires".
While the statement by Zuckerberg's spokesman claims that Booth was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation, a source told the case that Business Insider that Booth was present at work today and that there has been no change in his duties. LaBolt, the spokesman, says it's "not accurate".
Iconiq did not respond to several requests for comment.
Lawyer Lisa Bloom in 2015. Photo by Paul A. Hebert / Invision / AP
Zuckerberg's Secret Network of Household Companies
Mark Zuckerberg's household affairs are handled by a discreet web of organizations.
There is one to watch out for his personal security (Facebook handles some of his security requirements, but other aspects of his protection are handled remotely), controls $ 20 million pot of protection and raises money provided by Facebook in 2018. Other entities take caring for households – from household to managing their various properties – and hiring household employees for Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
Zuckerberg's personal security is different from Facebook's security device – and a small fraction of its size.
Silicon Valley Social Networking Service has an army of 6,000 security workers worldwide. An earlier Business Insider survey found everything from protecting the company's campuses from dissatisfied banned users to helping secure overseas travel by employees during times of international crisis. The Facebook CEO himself has an incredibly high public profile, and faces a number of risks, including stalkers and many death threats.
There are over 70 people on the internal control, led by Jill Leavens Jones, a former American secret specialist. Facebook's overall security unit is led by Nick Lovrien, a former CIA counter-terrorist officer.
Commented for comment, Facebook's vice president of executive communications Business insider referred the LaBolt statement and highlighted a blog post written by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in 2017 that shared Facebook's policy on sexual harassment publicly.
"Harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the workplace is unacceptable, but has been tolerated long ago," wrote Sandberg. "On Facebook, we treat all claims of such behavior with great care, and we have invested considerable time and resources in developing our policies and processes."
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