The rape accusations against a Silicon Valley venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale
The woman who accused venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale of sexual assault later dropped all of the legal claims against him. Stanford University, which had banned him for ten years, reversed the decision after the claims were dropped “as a result of new evidence that came to light during litigation.” The claims against big data intelligence start up Palantir cofounder and popular Silicon Valley venture capitalist will make your stomach turn. In late January, a recent Stanford grad, Elise Clougherty, filed a lawsuit accusing Lonsdale of “a sexually, emotionally, and physically abusive relationship.” Lonsdale, who is also a founder of the VC firm Formation 8, has since filed a countersuit claiming their relationship was consensual. The facts, in both the suit and countersuit, are the following: Lonsdale and Clougherty met through a mutual friend in New York when she was a Stanford student. About a year later, Lonsdale served as an official mentor for Clougherty in a Stanford tech entr...