Los Angeles entrepreneur and investor Jessica Mah is embroiled in bitter legal disputes with two former executives of her company and with D Global Ventures, a firm led by Justin Caldbeck, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist who admitted to sexually harassing female investors in 2017.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court this week, Mah accused Caldbeck of sexually harassing her and of seeking to defame her over a dispute about an investment he made in a corporate entity she controlled.
Meanwhile, in three separate lawsuits, two ex-senior executives at Mah’s investment firm Mahway — former CFO William Mulholland and former president Walter Delph — as well as Caldbeck’s firm DGV, made a wide array of allegations against Mah.
These include claims from all three that she misappropriated company funds, including to pay for a new private jet and trips to Burning Man; claims by Delph of inappropriate sexual conversations in the workplace and discriminatory comments about older workers; and claims from Mulholland of a concealed romantic relationship between Mah and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Mah, who says she has been programming since middle school, was featured on Forbes’ “30 under 30” list in 2012 and was on the front page of Inc magazine in 2015. She founded inDinero, a fintech startup that created a financial dashboard for businesses, and then her VC firm called Mahway, which she has called a “venture builder.
Caldbeck, who also worked at Bain Capital Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures, resigned from the fund he founded, Binary Capital, in 2017 after a group of women shared accusations of sexual harassment. Caldbeck admitted to his inappropriate behavior toward female founders and investors.
In a statement Friday, Mah said she had spent months trying to resolve the dispute with Caldbeck privately before filing suit.
“I recognize the risks and backlash that may follow, and I’ve made peace with the consequences,” she said. “This is not a step I take lightly. I believe in doing business with transparency, accountability, and clarity — and I will always stand up for those values, regardless of how uncomfortable it may be.”
In an emailed statement, Caldbeck spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister denied the claims of sexual misconduct.
“Mr. Caldbeck never made sexual advances toward Ms. Mah,” she wrote.
In her complaint, Mah alleges that Caldbeck sexually harassed her in 2022. “After consuming several drinks during a business meeting at the restaurant at the Pendry Hotel in West Hollywood, California, Mr. Caldbeck touched the upper-most part of Ms. Mah’s thigh and put his hand next to her genitalia,” the complaint says. It goes on to allege that Caldbeck repeatedly asked Mah if she was sexually interested in him and discussed his sexual relationships with other women.
Mah alleges in the suit that Caldbeck misled his own investors about the nature of his investment in one of her entities, and then “screamed at her and demanded she immediately pay him three times his initial investment.” When she refused, the suit says, he told her that “I’m going to destroy you” and defamed her to others.
Her complaint alleges extortion, sexual harassment, and defamation, among other claims.
All three cases against Mah, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday and Thursday by San Francisco-based law firm Sawyer & Labar LLC, accuse her of improperly using company funds to pay for her personal life. The claims variously include leasing a Lamborghini, vacation trips to Burning Man and Park City, covering rent for her home, paying for personal chefs and landscaping services, and paying for a personal jet despite employees’ objections.
Hofmeister, also a spokesperson for Mulholland and Delph, declined to comment on their lawsuits.
“Mah is more interested in living an ersatz glamorous lifestyle than investing,” the DGV complaint read. “The result of Mah’s dereliction of duty was predictable for the Company and its investors: investments were not as fruitful, making no real progress, while Mah seduced investors with misleading and often contradictory representations in quarterly investor reports.”
Delph’s complaint alleges that workers were required to work from Mah’s home, and that her friends and sexual partners would visit during the workday and walk around “in various stages of undress.” Mah would talk about sexual encounters with her employees, amounting to sexual harassment, the suit says. Delph also alleges that Mah called him an “old man” and “ridiculed” him because of his age.
Mulholland’s complaint alleges that an investor in Mahway complained that Mah had been “concealing her former sexual relationship with Eric Schmidt, the largest Mahway investor and former CEO of Google, in order to make Mahway appear like a legitimate investment opportunity.” A spokesperson for Schmidt declined to comment on the purported relationship.
DGV’s complaint claims that Mah “misled” the firm into falsely believing that Schmidt’s family office had invested in Mahway. However, Schmidt’s spokesperson said this is false, and that Schmidt was indeed an investor.
Delph claims to have been fired after raising concerns to Mah internally at a management meeting, while Mulholland’s suit says he felt forced to resign because Mah “was ordering him to break the law by concealing and/or misrepresenting material facts while engaging in general solicitation of investors in an unregistered security.”
The claims in Delph’s complaint include whistleblower retaliation, wrongful termination, age discrimination and sexual harassment. Mulholland claims constructive discharge and whistleblower retaliation, among other claims. And DGV’s claims include breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, civil theft, and sale of unregistered securities.
Additional reporting by Jack Newsham.
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