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Delphia, a cell funding platform, is going through a lawsuit and allegations that its co-founder and CTO Cameron Agius-Westland sexually assaulted and harassed a former worker, based on a grievance filed on Monday and shared solely with TechCrunch.
The grievance alleges that on August 17, 2022, Westland “sexually assaulted and harassed Plaintiff for a minimum of half-hour, as he rubbed her again and legs in a sizzling tub in a sexual method throughout a piece retreat.” The grievance was filed in each the U.S. and Canada.
“Later within the evening, Westland whispered in Plaintiff’s ear – ‘what do you say, we should always do that, you and I, let’s do that.’ Plaintiff acted like she didn’t perceive or hear him,” the doc alleged. “Then at her first alternative, Plaintiff instructed everybody she was going to mattress, went into her room, and locked the door.” Within the grievance, the previous worker additionally alleges that she later obtained a textual content from Westland asking “Need to cuddle,” to which she says she didn’t reply.
The next day, Westland is claimed within the grievance to have a minimum of partly acknowledged his habits by sending the Plaintiff and two different colleagues the next message, as shared in a screenshot within the doc:
Screenshot offered by Avloni Law (opens in a new window)
After the alleged incident, the Plaintiff was fired in mid-November 2022, after Westland needed to “change firm technique,” based on the doc. She was changed shortly after by what the previous worker’s grievance characterizes as Westland’s “shut buddy,” Max Cameron, who’s now director of group merchandise at Delphia.
Andrew Peek, CEO and co-founder of Delphia, shared a press release with TechCrunch in response to the lawsuit allegations:
Delphia takes the allegations of sexual misconduct towards Mr. Westland very severely. Delphia has all the time held itself to the very best requirements and, accordingly, now we have retained an impartial third-party investigator to look into these allegations. Mr. Westland has been positioned on a depart of absence pending the investigation. That stated, Delphia denies the allegations that the plaintiff on this litigation was terminated for any purpose aside from the truth that her companies have been not wanted. As well as, the individual recognized as Mr. Westland’s “shut buddy” works in a completely totally different a part of the group and didn’t take over the plaintiff’s duties.
Delphia closed a $60 million Series A led by Multicoin Capital in June 2022. Different traders within the spherical embody fintech-focused Ribbit Capital, M13, Lattice Ventures and the now-defunct FTX Ventures. In December 2022, Delphia announced its acquisition of Fathom Privateness, a knowledge rights firm that goals to supply people the flexibility to personal private software knowledge.
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