The former chief executive of Tradeshift, a billion-dollar San Francisco business software startup, is accused of inflicting years of suffering and pain on an unidentified woman as he allegedly sexually trafficked her around the world.
In a lawsuit filed with the San Francisco County Superior Court, the woman accused Christian Lanng of forcing her to abide by a “slave contract” under which she endured “rape, sexual abuse, torture and assault.”
The woman accused Lanng of trafficking her across countries including the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Japan, trips during which she was allegedly “sexually assaulted, including being bound against her will and beaten to the point of bleeding.”
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The alleged “slave contract,” a copy of which appears in the suit, required that the woman “Always be sexually available for her master when he needs sex and to never refuse him sex even when not wearing the collar,” and keep within a certain weight range, among other depraved requirements.
“The slave agrees to always taking her punishments without being angry, sullen or frustrated with her master and thank him after,” one passage of the purported “slave contract” read.
Tradeshift, which fired Lanng for “serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment” in October, and its investors were fully aware of the allegations made by the woman, the lawsuit claims, but for years failed to act. The woman served as a “direct report” to Lanng, but her exact position was not made clear.
In a statement to the New York Post, Lanng denied any sexual misconduct and said the woman continued to work with Tradeshift for five years after their relationship ended.
“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,” Lanng 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,” he continued.
In the lawsuit, the woman says she was fired by the company after bringing her claims of abuse to both human resources and the board of directors, while Lanng was kept on as CEO.
“Rather than come to her aid, protect her and fire the CEO and other perpetrators, Tradeshift terminated her and protected the perpetrators, one of whom remained the CEO and others who remained board members for many years after,” the lawsuit read.
The lawsuit alleges that in one instance Lanng “assaulted her in public” after she tried to escape further abuse.
“At certain points during Lanng’s years-long sexual abuse, torture and assault of Jane Doe, she attempted to… disengage from the ‘master-slave’ arrangement outlined in the slave contract, but when she did, Lanng would become enraged, even violent,” the lawsuit alleges.
The woman “is aware of and has been in contact with other victims who have suffered sexual abuse, torture, assault and sex trafficking in connection with Lanng, under the aegis of Tradeshift,” according to the lawsuit.
“As if the allegations are not horrific enough, the coverup takes this tragedy to another sick level. Time for HSBC, Tradeshift and others to take responsibility,” the woman’s attorneys told The Daily Beast.
The woman said she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical care as a result of the alleged abuse by Lanng and that she “bears numerous scars and bodily damage, remnants from the actual, physical sexual torture she endured at Lanng’s hands while an employee at Tradeshift.”
The woman is seeking unspecified damages and restitution.
