A rising variety of girls have come ahead with allegations towards a outstanding luxurious actual property duo, accusing them of drugging and sexually assaulting them throughout lavish, champagne-laden work gatherings.
The Each day Mail reviews that 4 further people have not too long ago initiated authorized motion towards actual property brokers David Golden and Michael Bjorkman. This improvement will increase the tally of ladies pursuing civil lawsuits for sexual assault towards the duo to 9.
Golden and Bjorkman had been related to eXp Realty, a quickly increasing cloud-based brokerage typically likened to the Amazon of the actual property world, famend for its opulent events and a tradition that embraced each laborious work and laborious play.
The newest allegations mirror these made by Fabiola Acevedo, Anya Roberts, and Christy Lundy, who filed lawsuits in 2023. These girls declare they misplaced consciousness throughout festivities with the realtors and awoke within the midst of or following alleged sexual assaults.
One of many new claimants was on the verge of marriage, with the ceremony simply two weeks away, when she claimed to have misplaced consciousness at a work-related dinner attended by Bjorkman, who’s married, together with different eXp employees.
In line with her deposition, her final recollection was being at a strip membership and sitting on Bjorkman’s lap. She later awoke in his mattress, the place he allegedly knowledgeable her that he had recorded her performing a intercourse act.
Additionally included within the filings are texts Golden and Bjorkman allegedly despatched one another bragging about ‘banging’ girls and an e-mail from a feminine employees member to Golden apparently joking about sexually transmitted illnesses.
The scandal has been likened to that of the Alexander brothers, two of whom had been high-powered realtors, who had been convicted of intercourse trafficking expenses after a wave of civil lawsuits from feminine victims.
Michael Bjorkman is accused by a number of girls in civil lawsuits of operating a ‘boys membership’ tradition the place highly effective male brokers allegedly drugged and raped them. He has denied any wrongdoing
David Golden with two performers in Las Vegas, who weren’t concerned within the lawsuits. He captioned the photograph on socials saying, ‘I couldn’t preserve my eyes off of them’
A message from Bjorkman to Golden following a piece journey to Mexico that was added into courtroom filings
Each Golden and Bjorkman have denied all earlier allegations of sexual impropriety and they didn’t reply to the Each day Mail’s request for remark in regards to the new claims.
The authorized filings additionally accuse eXp administration of fostering a ‘boys’ membership’ social gathering tradition whereas ignoring complaints from feminine employees.
Critics say the agency’s construction – the place brokers obtain a reduce of the commissions earned by the individuals they recruit – creates highly effective incentives to guard prime performers, with little urge for food to analyze excessive earners even when critical allegations are raised.
Most of the girls say of their depositions they took their complaints to senior administration, and even raised considerations straight with eXp CEO Glenn Sanford, however declare their reviews went nowhere.
Neither Sanford nor eXp responded to the Each day Mail’s request for remark.
Newly launched inner emails present employees raised considerations about Golden and Bjorkman’s habits as early as 2018, together with allegations that Bjorkman drugged and assaulted girls. Regardless of the warnings, the pair remained on the firm till 2023.
One of many 4 new unnamed girls to come back ahead is a former eXp agent from Colorado, who alleged in her deposition that she attended a bunch dinner for an eXp work occasion with Bjorkman and three different feminine actual property brokers who labored on the firm.
‘We had drinks at dinner,’ she mentioned within the lawsuit , including that she was informed the following day she instantly began performing erratic.
Michael Bjorkman and David Golden
‘I bear in mind attending to the strip membership. [But after that,] it’s a blackout,’ she mentioned. She claimed she had a reminiscence flash of sitting on Bjorkman’s lap on the strip membership.
The subsequent morning, her buddies informed her she was ‘performing like a stripper on Mike Bjorkman, in entrance of all my colleagues, in entrance of individuals I’ve simply met, in entrance of my bosses,’ she mentioned in her deposition.
‘I’ve no recollection of coming to the lodge,’ she added of the place she awoke the following day. ‘That’s all misplaced reminiscence.’
The lady, who had simply met Bjorkman that evening, alleged she awoke in Bjorkman’s mattress the morning after, ‘shocked’ as a result of she was getting married two weeks later.
‘And he was married, so it was stunning for positive,’ she continued in her deposition testimony.
She mentioned within the deposition that she needed to be quiet whereas Bjorkman answered a name from his spouse, claiming he informed her: ‘Hey, hush hush.’
When he hung up, he allegedly known as her a ‘social gathering woman’ who had been ‘performing wild’ the earlier evening, based on her deposition testimony.
She claimed he mentioned ‘that I took his telephone, put porn on it, and began masturbating whereas he filmed it. I instantly didn’t imagine him as a result of I’d not try this.
‘He mentioned he had video – that meant blackmail.’ The placement and date of the alleged assault has been redacted from the lawsuit to guard the accuser’s identification.
Christy Lundy can be suing the corporate over claims of sexual assault
Michael Bjorkman, who’s accused of drugging and sexually assaulting girls in a number of civil lawsuits, enjoys a day trip on a ship
A feminine staffer’s trade with Golden which seems to allude to sexually transmitted illnesses. The staffer mentioned she later started to query her relationship with Golden
One other lady alleged in her deposition that at an eXp occasion in California in 2019, she had a single glass of white wine, then started stumbling.
She alleged Bjorkman mentioned ‘you’ve been drugged’ and warned her to ‘keep subsequent’ to him.
‘As quickly as I stumbled, Mike Bjorkman was there – nearly like he caught me – and mentioned, ‘You’ve been drugged,” she mentioned within the deposition.
‘Mike Bjorkman was being Mike Bjorkman,’ the girl continued. ‘He would all the time purchase drinks. He’s like a cool frat man.’
She mentioned in her deposition she is not sure what occurred with Bjorkman whereas blacked out and claimed that she awoke within the morning in his lodge room ‘confused and raveled.’
A 3rd former worker alleges in a deposition that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Bjorkman in 2007 in California.
She accused Bjorkman of drugging and raping her in a lodge room after he drove her to a category for her actual property license, then urged they examine afterwards at a close-by lodge, based on the courtroom paperwork.
‘We went to the Marriott Resort in Santa Monica,’ she mentioned. ‘We had our books, and I can bear in mind him paying money for a lodge room, and I believed that was bizarre.’
The lady claims in her deposition Bjorkman bought a room with a balcony, then made them each a drink.
‘[I] didn’t see any hurt in having a couple of drinks whereas we’re finding out for this eight-hour check,’ she mentioned within the deposition.
Anya Roberts, a former actual property agent at eXp, alleged in a lawsuit that she was repeatedly drugged and sexually assaulted at work occasions
The lead plaintiff is Fabiola Acevedo, a Florida-based actual property agent who filed a go well with in February 2023, alleging that she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a recruiting occasion
A feminine witness, who is called within the deposition as Holly Madden, claimed that she was invited by Bjorkman to an occasion in Daytona Seashore, Florida. She claimed she acquired this message after the occasion
‘This was someday round lunchtime. It was nonetheless daylight out. And actually the following reminiscence I’ve was waking up with Mike Bjorkman on prime of me, having intercourse with me on the mattress,’ she mentioned in her deposition.
‘After which I don’t bear in mind a lot besides that hastily I used to be facedown with anyone having anal intercourse with me.’
The lady mentioned in her deposition that she almost threw up in Bjorkman’s truck when he drove her again to her automobile.
A fourth accuser alleges in a deposition that she awoke in Golden’s lodge room in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 2019 with one other lady on prime of her, nude and touching her after she blacked out after one drink the evening earlier than.
A textual content in February 2020 from Bjorkman to Golden seems to reference the encounter. It learn: ‘The one you banged in Mexico?’
A feminine eXp worker who was as soon as shut with Golden has additionally testified towards him after turning into more and more involved by the allegations.
Playful exchanges between the staffer and Golden are included within the new courtroom filings. In a single e-mail, Golden wrote to her: ‘Love you. Sorry that I’m a foul affect. I’m simply being me.’
She later despatched him a joking letter asking whether or not he was ‘as unhealthy because the Coronavirus,’ saying he left ‘younger ladies sick’ and asking: ‘How lengthy can this go on?’
David Golden, Michael Bjorkman at an eXp occasion on the W lodge collectively
What’s described in courtroom paperwork as an inner memo at eXp talking in regards to the alleged habits of Bjorkman reaching grievance standing
David Golden claimed in his personal deposition that he commonly ordered bottles of Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB or ‘roofies’) and used the drug
However the lady has since turned towards her former pal and testified for the plaintiffs.
In a witness deposition, she mentioned a number of girls informed her about Golden and Bjorkman’s alleged abuse, together with claims she witnessed Golden ordering the date rape drug Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) – or ‘roofies’ – to his lodge room at work occasions.
She additionally mentioned the rising allegations made her reassess her personal relationship with the pair, describing a few of their habits as ‘unusual’ – together with the actual fact they typically shared lodge rooms and invited her to stick with them.
The ladies accused Bjorkman and Golden of slipping the medication, which in excessive portions is thought to trigger reminiscence loss, into their drinks.
Golden claimed in his personal deposition that he commonly ordered bottles of GHB and took it a couple of times every week going again to 2014.
Bjorkman didn’t admit to taking the drug, however says he was slipped it twice in his life.
The 2023 lawsuits filed by Acevedo, Roberts and Lundy make comparable allegations.
Acevedo, a Florida-based actual property agent recruited by Golden, claimed in a February 2023 go well with that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Bjorkman.
She alleged that in 2018, Bjorkman satisfied her to hitch him at a networking occasion on the Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Seashore, California, telling her it might assist her profession.
When she arrived on the occasion, a lodge staffer informed her she didn’t have a room reserved in her title and that they had been bought out, the go well with claimed.
Tami Sims and Christiana ‘Christy’ Lundy, actual property brokers in Tennessee and California, each later joined Acevedo’s lawsuit, alleging they had been additionally drugged and sexually assaulted by Bjorkman and Golden.
Lundy alleged in her submitting that after an eXp occasion in 2020 in Las Vegas, Bjorkman and Golden invited her for a drink of their suite, the place she alleges she drank one cup of vodka and soda water.
Roberts claimed that in February 2020, she flew to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to attend an eXp networking occasion and blacked out after one drink in Golden’s room.
She alleged she woke to Golden standing over her, massaging his penis over his pants, based on her grievance.
