Ex-Secret Service officer Liam Booth was the head of security for Mark Zuckerberg’s “family office” and charitable foundation; two former employees accused Booth of homophobia, transphobia, “pervasive discriminatory conduct,” and “horrific levels of sexual harassment and battery,” saying that he had made racist remarks about Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan; that he had told a staffer that he “didn’t trust Black people” and that he believed that “white lives matter more than Black lives” and had personally sabotaged Chan’s attempt to hire more diverse staff; that he’d complained about the number of Black people working for the family charity; and that he’d “angrily advocat[ed] against diversity in the workplace and the movement Black Lives Matters, which he called ‘reverse racism.'”
The accusers hired attorney Lisa Bloom to represent them; Bloom previously represented survivors of Bill O’Reilly’s workplace sexual abuse.
Zuckerberg’s family office launched an internal investigation and concluded that Booth was not guilty. Booth resigned despite this conclusion. His accusers say that the unwillingness of Zuckerberg to hire an independent, external investigator is evidence that he isn’t interested in uncovering the truth — rather, he just wants the scandal quickly and quietly done away with.
The accusers do not allege that Zuckerberg knew about Booth’s conduct.
In response, The Bloom Firm continued to call for an independent investigation into the allegations. “We continue to urge the family to retain a truly neutral, independent investigator experienced in harassment and discrimination claims to make factual findings and recommendations on these urgent and important claims,” Lisa Bloom, the head of the firm, said in an emailed statement.“As far as we know, no independent investigation has occurred. Instead, a large defense firm is defending against our clients’ allegations. Attorneys are ethically bound to defend their clients.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s security chief is leaving after an investigation into allegations of misconduct
[Rob Price/Business Insider]