Former Tradeshift CEO ‘who kept his assistant as a sex slave’ was pictured hanging out with actor Kevin Spacey at a 2016 event – a gathering where the victim said the tech mogul tortured her.
Christian Lanng, 45, was fired in October after he was accused of enslaving his assistant with a ‘sexual slave contract,’ according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
Despite the allegations, the Danish-born mogul has repeatedly posted against sexism on social media and boasted about creating a ‘respectful culture’ toward women at the company in a past interview.
The former head of billion-dollar software firm was said to have allegedly coerced a staffer, identified only as Jane Doe, into a ‘dark abyss’ of sexual abuse and sadistic torture.
The lawsuit revealed that one of these incidents took place in Davos, Switzerland, where Lanng was seen posing with Spacey during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in 2016.
Former Tradeshift CEO Christian Lanng, 45, was fired in October after he was accused of enslaving his assistant with a ‘sexual slave contract’
Lanng posed next to actor Kevin Spacey during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in 2016 in Davos, Switzerland, where Jane Doe said one of the sexual incidents between her and Lanng took place
Spacey has been accused of sexual assault, but in July was cleared of all charges in connection to a London case.
Lanng has hit back on the claims against him and said that he is being ‘shamed’ over his private life in a malicious campaign for ‘personal financial gain.’
The lawsuit, reported by Mercury News, alleged Lanng forced his assistant to sign a contract that allowed him to inflict ‘physical pain on her by various means, urinating on her and routinely penetrating her person with foreign objects.’
Lanng was fired from the Bay Area startup that he co-founded in 2010, for ‘gross misconduct on multiple grounds’, with Tradeshift saying it made the decision following ‘serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment’ against the CEO.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Lanng claimed he and his accuser were in a consensual relationship, and he said the lawsuit was fueled by ‘malicious motives’ that ‘underscore an ugly paradox in our society.’
‘We celebrate sex so long as it’s contained in fiction for our entertainment. But in real life, we condemn and pass judgment. I’m hopeful that one day, shaming consenting adults for what they do in their bedrooms will be seen as despicable, like “outing” someone’s sexual orientation in the 20th century,’ he said.
‘Words cannot adequately express how disheartening it is that a highly distorted version of the extremely intimate details of a private consensual sexual relationship is now not only in the public domain but also being used to defame me for personal financial gain.’
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in San Francisco County Superior Court against Lanng and Tradeshift, claiming the abuse started within months of her being hired at the tech firm.
Tradeshift is a cloud network that services over 1.5 million businesses.
A copy of the alleged slave contract reported by Mercury News was allegedly nine-pages long, and included provisions ordering Doe to serve as a sex slave for the CEO and perform demeaning tasks while at work.
The contract saw that Doe would always sexually available for her master when he needs sex and to never refuse him sex even when not wearing the collar.’
It also mentioned that whenever she saw Lanng ‘in private for the first time, she is to kneel and ask if there is anything she can do for him.’
Lanng was fired from Tradeshift in October for ‘gross misconduct on multiple grounds’ following ‘serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment’ against the CEO
An ‘at work’ section of the lawsuit detailed a chilling order that said that Doe was told she was free to ‘act independently as long as she remembers she is her master’s property and she is there to please him and for no other reason.’
It is also claimed that she was given mandatory sex acts to complete, had to keep her weight between 130 and 155 pounds, and was ordered to dress in ‘a proper, feminine way, preferably skirts, dresses and stockings.’
Doe was reportedly given a ‘day collar’ to wear around her neck when she was out with Lanng. The contract also stated that he would ‘work to shape the slave towards his goal of the perfect woman.’
The purported contract allowed ‘any punishment the master decides to inflict, whether earned or not’, which allegedly included spanking, slapping and electric shocks.
The alleged contract cited Lanng’s ‘responsibility’ not to kill Doe or inflict permanent bodily harm as he doled out the punishments.
‘The slave agrees to always taking her punishments without being angry, sullen or frustrated with her master and thank him after,’ the document allegedly ordered.
Doe also claims she was ‘beat to the point of bleeding’, and she was abused with ‘inanimate objects.’
It went on to say that Lanng forced Doe to keep a ‘diary’ of ‘his subjugation and enslavement of her’, and that he would ‘beat Jane Doe with a cane’ if she failed to ‘write submissive entries in the diary.’
When Lanng was fired, he denied the sexual conduct allegations and told TechCrunch: ‘There has never been an HR case, complaint or formal allegation filed against me at Tradeshift.’
However, Doe alleges that she did tell the company’s human resources department and warned officials about her ‘suffering at the hands of the CEO under the slave contract’, per the lawsuit.
The filing claimed that Doe signed the ‘slave contract’ because she ‘loved her job, was accomplishing important work in her new role and did not want to lose the opportunity to work a Tradeshift.’
However, she claims that the firm retaliated to her filing a complaint by firing her in 2020. It is unclear how long she had worked at the company.
Doe alleges that she tried to leave the contract several times over the years, ‘but when she did, Lanng would become enraged, even violent.’
Doe also claims in her lawsuit that she is in contact with ‘other victims… in connection with Lanng, under the aegis of Tradeshift.’
Lanng’s alleged years-long ordeal left Doe ‘bedridden and in a precarious psychological state for almost two years, and she continues to suffer from PTSD.
The lawsuit claims she has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical and therapeutic care, and now ‘bears numerous scars and bodily damage, remnants from the actual, physical sexual torture she endured at Lanng’s hands while an employee at Tradeshift.’
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Lanng hit back at the claims against him and said they were being levied to extort ‘financial gain’ from him.
‘As a co-founder and CEO of Tradeshift for more than a decade, I want to be very clear: Tradeshift never condoned or concealed sexual harassment claims.
‘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.
‘The only details of the salacious complaint against me that are truthful are that the plaintiff and I were in a sexual relationship and that she was once employed at Tradeshift. This relationship, which predated her employment at Tradeshift, ended eight months after she joined the company.
Lanng has hit back on the recent claims and said that he is being ‘shamed’ over his private life in a malicious campaign for ‘personal financial gain’
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Lanng hit back at the claims against him and said they were being levied to extort ‘financial gain’ from him
The statement continued: ‘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.
‘The plaintiff went on to work for Tradeshift for approximately five more years after our relationship ended, rising in the ranks, outside of my purview, through a series of promotions as Tradeshift grew from a dozen employees to over 1,000 across multiple cities around the world.
‘Her position was eliminated during one of several rounds of layoffs Tradeshift has unfortunately had to undergo.
‘Words cannot adequately express how disheartening it is that a highly distorted version of the extremely intimate details of a private consensual sexual relationship is now not only in the public domain but also being used to defame me for personal financial gain.
‘This is a cynical and callous affront to victims of sexual violence and human trafficking.’