binarypublish- Christian Lanng, the former CEO and co-founder of the tech startup Tradeshift, has been accused of forcing a female employee to sign a ‘sex slave’ contract and subjecting her to sexual abuse during her employment with the company, as reported by the New York Post.
- The employee has filed a nine-page lawsuit detailing the contents of the contract, which included clauses requiring her to always be sexually available to Lanng, never refuse his advances, and submit to physical punishments inflicted by him.
- Lanng has been fired by the Board of Directors on the grounds of gross misconduct following the surfacing of the sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied, claiming that he and the plaintiff were in a consensual sexual relationship and that no such contract existed.
The allegations against Lanng have been brought forward by a former executive assistant at the company. The lawsuit alleges that the CEO required her to sign a ‘slavery contract’ a few months after hiring her, which stipulated heinous conditions and “unwanted sexual horror”. The alleged incidents included Lanng inflicting physical pain by various means, urinating on her, and routinely penetrating her with foreign objects.
The contract allegedly required the woman to be “always sexually available for her master” and forbade her from refusing his advances. It supposedly included enslavement clauses that the woman “must kneel” in front of Lanng in private, always ask if there is anything she can do for him, and never refuse sex. The contract also allegedly stated that the woman had to maintain her weight between 58-70 kgs and endure any physical punishment inflicted by Lanng, irrespective of his emotional state.
The woman claims to have signed the contract out of fear of being fired for non-compliance. The Board of Directors dismissed Lanng from his CEO position citing “gross misconduct” after the sexual harassment allegations came to light. Lanng has since refuted all allegations, claiming that he was involved in a “consensual sexual relationship” with the plaintiff and that no such contract existed. He has termed the accusations as an attempt to defame him.
