Women Sue Gym Mogul Who Bankrolled Trump’s Truth Social

In January 2022, Taryn Baldwin was excited to start her personal training career at TMPL Lexington, a 24,000-square-foot gym and spa in Midtown Manhattan.

For the first few months at the flagship location, the 29-year-old excelled professionally. A lawsuit filed this month said Baldwin was regularly named among the top five trainers at the gym and was once recognized as one of the best female instructors at the company, which has five locations across the country.

But about four months in, her dream job allegedly became a nightmare. That’s when, she says, she met Patrick Walsh, the gym’s 47-year-old CEO and reportedly the third largest investor in former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social.

“I was surprised when he began texting me about the gym because I had only met him briefly and he was the boss,” Baldwin told The Daily Beast. “Then he asked me to be his personal trainer. I thought it was a little weird but I wasn’t initially uncomfortable by the request.”

Soon, she said, Walsh began to touch her during training sessions, and then his texts started coming in daily. The conversations pivoted away from TMPL to requests for “an exclusive on all [her] hot pics” and invitations to dinner, the lawsuit states. In August 2022, Baldwin alleges, Walsh forcefully kissed and groped her at his brother’s apartment while they were watching a movie. Terrified of professional backlash, Baldwin remained silent about the alleged sexual harassment after she quit her job, the lawsuit states.

Baldwin is the second woman to file a federal lawsuit against Walsh and his companies. Both women spoke to The Daily Beast for the first time about the alleged misconduct they experienced at TMPL, saying they did not feel safe at the company and were not properly paid for their time.

“I didn’t work this hard in my life to be burned by a guy that uses his privilege and power to victimize women,” said Megan Lange, a former TMPL employee who filed a September lawsuit alleging she was stonewalled, retaliated against, and financially manipulated by Walsh between 2021 and 2023.

Walsh has not been charged with any crimes and he has not responded to either lawsuit. “Because there is ongoing litigation, we do not want to try this case in the media,” Walsh’s lawyer, Benjamin Noren, told The Daily Beast. “However, we are confident that these claims will be dismissed and the allegations proven false.”

A secret romance

A 2015 Forbes profile called Walsh “the do-it-yourself hedge fund activist you've never heard of.” After graduating from Boston College in 1998, he jumped from real-estate private equity to Wall Street to a hedge fund, and then founded PW Partners in 2012. He’s served on the board of directors for BJ’s Restaurants and Del Taco. He is also the former CEO of Towns Sports International, which once operated 158 sports clubs nationwide.

Walsh is currently CEO and owner of Empire Holdings Investments, which controls luxury gym brands like TMPL, Palm Beach Sports Club, and LIV. Reuters reported that Walsh invested approximately $6.2 million in Trump’s Truth Social between December 2021 and February 2022.

Lange, 36, said she met the investor during the meeting at TMPL in July 2021 and was promoted to be the gym’s brand director a month later. At the time, she had been working at TMPL for three years, first as a cycling instructor and then as a personal trainer. The lawsuit states that in her new role, she was responsible for creative direction and the design and renovation of TMPL Lexington.

Within weeks, Lange said in her lawsuit, she began a secret romantic relationship with Walsh after turning down several of his advances. (The lawsuit states that throughout her employment at TMPL—and afterward—the pair had an on-and-off relationship that Lange claims was plagued with secrets, gaslighting, and emotional manipulation.)

“It wasn’t difficult for me to remain professional and compartmentalize. There was a switch that flipped when we were at work,” Lange said.

After about six months of dating, Walsh said he wanted to take a break, then changed his mind and unveiled a plan to allow them to date openly, the lawsuit states. Lange would resign to become a full-time TMPL consultant and a business partner in a champagne lounge in TMPL Lexington.

“He told me I could keep the same title and work responsibilities,” she said. “I trusted him, so I agreed. What a mistake that was.”

The lawsuit states that between April and August 2022, when Lange was a full-time consultant for $3,000 less a month, she confronted Walsh on a range of company issues, including his relationship with a female Florida employee, after seeing a photo of them together online.

“Lange expressed concern about the optics of Walsh being seen with an employee in a close embrace, wearing swimwear in a non-work setting, especially because of the already prolific rumors that existed about his inappropriate interactions with female employees,” the lawsuit states. Lange said that Walsh denied the rumors.

In another conversation, Walsh allegedly said he wanted the gym to have “sexier imagery and the gyms full of ‘girls with hot asses’ because, according to him, that’s why men join a gym,” the lawsuit states. “Walsh also stated several times that he didn’t want the TMPL gyms to be ‘gay gyms.’” Lange claims in the suit that she went to HR about work-related issues, including Walsh’s text messages to Baldwin, but was reprimanded and ignored.

Lange was pushed out of her leadership role at TMPL in September 2022 but taught fitness classes at the gym until June 2023, the lawsuit alleges. She claims the lease for the champagne lounge was invalid and that Walsh knew it was never going to open.

“It’s not illegal to be a bad boyfriend,” she said. “What he did goes so far beyond that. He impacted my career, my well-being, and my professional reputation, and there needs to be accountability for that, as well as accountability for those who enable him.”

Unwanted attention

For Baldwin, signs of trouble began after she met Walsh in May 2022. Within days, her lawsuit states, he got her number from her manager and texted her about TMPL Lexington’s spa.

“He made the conversation weird pretty quickly,” she said.

The lawsuit states that on May 31, 2022, Walsh texted that he needed “an exclusive on all [her] hot pics.” Two months later, he asked if she would be his personal trainer, a request she said she felt compelled to accept because he was her boss. Between July and August 2022, Walsh asked Baldwin out for dinner or drinks at least 12 times; she agreed to meet him four times, the suit says

“I was feeling weird about it and I really didn’t want to continue going out with him or training him. But he was also my boss,” she said.

Baldwin complained to her manager but he “suggested she try to date Walsh,” the lawsuit states. Days later, she joined him for dinner at his brother’s apartment to discuss TMPL’s social media strategies, she said.

“As we talked about work, he was definitely trying to get me to drink more,” she said. “He wasn’t touchy or anything at first. But then he asked me after dinner if I wanted to see a movie. It was The Black Phone, with Ethan Hawke.”

Soon after, she said, he just “went for it,” put his arms around her, and began to kiss her. Walsh then “reached his hands under her clothing and tried to lower her pants,” according to the suit. “I was in shock a little bit,” she said, saying she never gave consent. “It was zero to 100.”

Baldwin said she demanded an Uber home.

“I was scared and embarrassed that I put myself in that position,” she said. “It was horrifying.”

Walsh continued to text Baldwin and send her personal photos. “Taryn, u r looking amazing as always. Love u in the tmpl top Have a great week! Look forward to training next time…,” he wrote in a May 2023 message detailed in the suit.

Baldwin said she told her sister and a few friends about the incident but did not confide in anyone at TMPL. The lawsuit states that on Aug. 30, Baldwin’s manager heard that she had been telling coworkers she did not like training Walsh and that the CEO made her uncomfortable. In response, her manager admonished her for “gossiping,” the lawsuit states. The conversation, Baldwin said, made her feel silenced.

“She feared retaliation if she were to speak up about his unlawful actions,” the lawsuit says.

She quit in September 2023. Her lawsuit alleges that, in addition to the harassment, Baldwin was incorrectly paid only for the hours she spent training clients during the latter half of her tenure, not the time she spent on photo shoots, cleaning, and recruiting potential patrons.

For Baldwin, the decision to file a lawsuit was simple: hold the company that she once loved accountable for not having her back. And to make sure Walsh does not allegedly harm any other women.

“I loved personal training. But I didn’t want to be a part of a company that wasn’t going to protect me and didn’t have my best interests in mind,” Baldwin said. “What happened is something Patrick and the company need to be held accountable for.”