On Friday, an anti-SLAPP motion was filed at the Los Angeles County Superior Court by American Apparel as a reciprocal attempt to prevent ex-CEO and founder Dov Charney from initiating any more of what the company calls frivolous lawsuits.
American Apparel claims that Charney should not be able to file further lawsuits because he was fired for “good cause.” The filing alleged that Charney was actively involved in sexual harassment misconduct, violation of anti-discrimination policies, and misuse of company funds.
According to a Los Angeles Times’ summary of the report:
“Charney told accounting employees that they were “Filipino pigs … with your faces in the trough”; mimed holding a shotgun to an employee’s forehead; stored footage on company equipment of himself having sex with models and employees; and sent sexually graphic messages to employees. The filing also alleged Charney tried to destroy the evidence, telling employees to delete “naughty” messages.”
The filing also stated that there are videos of Charney having sex with American Apparel employees and models, recorded by Charney himself. Charney has claimed that his sexual relationships with his employees were consensual.
Charney has been sued on at least five different occasions for sexual harassment. He was accused by an American Apparel manager, Irene Morales, of keeping her as a “sex slave” over a period of eight months in 2010. There have been additional allegations that Charney had made sexual advances on employees insisting that their careers depended on their participation.
Other instances of Charney’s misdeeds include masturbating in front of reporter Claudine Ko, dancing naked in front of employees, and spending over $500 million of company money trying to cover up his sexual escapades.
Charney founded American Apparel in 1989 and is the second largest shareholder of the company, which recorded losses of $26 million last quarter.
