OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:18 PM – Tuesday, December 12, 2023
A former assistant of the co-founder and (now former) CEO of San Francisco software company Tradeshift claims that she was forced to sign a disturbing “slave contract” that subjected her to years of “unwanted sexual horror” and physical abuse.
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A complaint was filed on Thursday, alleging that Christian Lanng, one of the co-founders of Tradeshift, coerced his former employee into signing the contract only months after he hired her as his executive assistant.
Laang is also known to be a vocal supporter of Joe Biden and a harsh critic of former President Donald Trump, as shown on his social media accounts posts.
The woman who brought forth the lawsuit, who is only named “Jane Doe” in court records, says that Lanng sexually assaulted and mistreated her for years after. The software company is also mentioned in the lawsuit.
Mercury News reported that the ex-CEO’s torture tactics involved “inflicting physical pain on her by various means, urinating on her and routinely penetrating her person with foreign objects,” according to the lawsuit.
The alarming claims finally surfaced when management discovered and acknowledged the “serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment” against the disgraced executive, who was ousted earlier this year for “gross misconduct on multiple grounds.”
A nine-page “slave contract,” which the complainant maintained she was coerced into signing and which she informed other higher-ups about, led to her firing in 2020, according to the accuser.
In order to keep her job, Doe agreed to “always be sexually available for her master when he needs sex and to never refuse him sex even when not wearing the [day] collar,” according to an alleged copy of the contract filed with the lawsuit.
“Whenever she sees her master in private for the first time, she is to kneel and ask if there is anything she can do for him,” the alleged contract continued.
The agreement allowed Lanng to deliver “any punishment the master decides to inflict, whether earned or not.” However, it did highlight that it was the “master’s responsibility” to avoid killing her or causing any sort of permanent injury.
According to the contract, the “slave” was also required to “thank him after” and accept her penalties “without being angry, sullen, or frustrated with her master.”
According to the complaint, the former assistant had also consented to be hit “with a cane if she did not write submissive entries” and was required to maintain a “diary” documenting his “subjugation and enslavement of her.”
Jane Doe said that Lanng “beat her to the point of bleeding” and molested her with “inanimate objects.”
The lawsuit claims that the woman signed a contract requiring her to maintain a weight between 130 and 155 pounds and to dress in “a proper, feminine way.” She allegedly agreed to provide Lanng with weekly spreadsheets detailing her progress.
“The slave agrees to submit completely to the master in all ways. There are no boundaries of place, time, or situation in which the slave may willfully refuse to obey the directive of the master without risking punishment,” the contract says, according to the lawsuit.
“The slave also agrees that, once entered into the Slavery Contract, their body belongs to their master to be used as seen fit within the guidelines defined herein. All of the slave’s possessions likewise belong to the master, including all assets, finances, online accounts, and material goods, to do with as they see fit.”
The complaint goes on to say that the former assistant “loved her job, was accomplishing important work in her new role, and did not want to lose the opportunity to work at Tradeshift,” which is why she consented to the unsettling requirements.
A Tradeshift representative said that the company “denies the allegations in the claim insofar as they are made against the company,” and they declined to comment further.
Meanwhile, the disgraced ex-CEO claims that their relationship was “consensual.”
“The claims in this lawsuit are defamatory and not reflective of my past relationship with the plaintiff. The shocking and vile claims in the lawsuit are categorically false, and I reject allegations that I subjected someone to any form of abuse during my tenure as CEO or at any other time of my life,” he said.
“In 2014, I made the grave error of judgment to hire someone I was dating and with whom I was engaged in a consensual sexual relationship. While this did not constitute a violation of Tradeshift’s human resources policies, it was irresponsible to employ someone with whom I was romantically involved. I regret the decision. It was a foolish mistake that I will not repeat,” Laang added.
He also claimed that she was let go due to the company’s round of layoffs and not because of their sexual relationship.
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