A former technology CEO accused of forcing his assistant to sign a “slavery contract” that saw him sex traffic around the world has claimed the allegations only emerged after a powerful lawyer tried to extort $10 million from him.
Christian Lanng, the 45-year-old who left Silicon Valley’s Tradeshift in September last year when the allegations surfaced, made the claims in a countersuit filed Tuesday in the Northern District Court of California.
The lawsuit cites text messages sent by prominent Hollywood lawyer Bryan Freedman to Lanng in September as alleged evidence of the alleged extortion plot.
A month earlier, the attorney – who has represented the likes of Don Lemon and Bethenny Frankel – appeared on TMZpromoting a copy of a document emblazoned with the phrase “slavery contract.”
The document had names redacted and came as Freedman discussed a separate case. Lanng’s lawyers, however, claim that the display was “a clear threat to the counterclaimant,” made before the alleged extortion attempt.
Langg says the lawyer threatened to leak the story to TMZ if the sum was not paid.
Fallen San Francisco CEO Christian Lanngcall allegedly made a woman call him “Master” while trafficking her around the world. He resigned in October last year when the allegations surfaced, and says the allegations only came about when he refused to cooperate with a lawyer handling the case.
Enter prominent Hollywood lawyer Bryan Freedman, who appeared on TMZ in August promoting a document emblazoned with the phrase “slavery contract.” Lanng’s lawyers claim the display was “a clear threat to the counterclaimant,” made before an outright extortion attempt.
“A major media outlet asked me if you could explain your side of the story this week along with the lawsuits filed,” Freedman told Lanng in a Sept. 4 text message, introducing himself as the attorney representing the woman who filed the initial lawsuit exactly one month after the TMZ clip aired.
‘They can make you show up [Z]“Ah!” he continued.
‘It is unfortunate that your former lawyer has allowed it to reach this point.
‘But your inability to resolve this has caused permanent and irreparable harm to all those harmed.
“It was never necessary to waste their future and the mental well-being of these victims.”
Sent just before 6 pm PT, Lanng responded later that night.
“Bryan, I will be back as soon as possible with a new lawyer,” wrote the founder of a company that has raised $1.1 billion from investors including Goldman Sachs, PayPal Ventures, West River and Koch Industries since its founding.
“I am afraid that any kind of media will not help achieve any results.”
Another text message from Freedman arrived a little more than 12 hours later, the lawsuit states, attaching screenshots of the exchange.
It was in this correspondence where Lanng says the lawyer broke the law.
‘Christian, I don’t control the media as you know, but once presented[,] “Cases take on a life of their own,” the lawyer wrote on September 5, seeking a settlement.
‘Evidently making the payment avoids the presentation. Is that happening today?’
He goes on to claim that a previous party named Bruce ‘offered 10 million paid by 8/15.’
“If that happened there would be no reason to file a complaint,” he said.
“Let me know if you want to avoid making this much more difficult since our documents are already ready.”
Within minutes, Lanng responded: “Payments can only be made if I close my secondary deal, that’s the reality.”
‘I have no other assets and any media will accept it.
“Happy to explain it in detail.”
Seemingly outraged, Freedman offered one last response to Lanng before correspondence was cut off, the countersuit shows, before becoming embroiled in the bitter case.
The lawsuit cites text messages sent by the prominent Hollywood lawyer to Lanng in September as alleged evidence of the alleged extortion plot.
“There’s always a different story,” Freedman wrote on September 5.
‘I would prefer not to see their future compromised by how many promises can be broken without action being taken.
“I imagine you understand the mental state I’m dealing with,” he continued, citing the former Lanng employee’s alleged mental state at the time.
‘Obviously it is better for lawyers to get money for clients[,] but ethically I have no choice but to follow my clients[sic] decisions.
“They brought me to a conclusion,” he concluded. ‘The unfortunate thing is the lasting effect on your ability to do business.
‘[I]It’s a shame to see this disappear instead of permanent destruction.
Weeks later, the lawsuit was filed by a woman who says she was forced to sign the same “sexual slavery contract” that Freedman bragged about in August.
The “shocking and repulsive” document was aired in its entirety in the initial lawsuit, which alleged that the employee simply several months into her employment, she was forced to sign it.
The agreement, which contained stipulations such as having to call Lanng ‘Master,’ caused his work and personal life to become “a dark abyss of unwanted sexual horror,” the original lawsuit claims.
Weeks later, the lawsuit was filed by a woman who says she was forced to sign the same “sexual slavery contract” that Freedman bragged about in August.
The agreement, which contained stipulations such as having to call Lanng ‘Master,’ caused her work and personal life to become “a dark abyss of unwanted sexual horror,” the original lawsuit claims.
That lawsuit was filed after Lanng already agreed to pay the victim, referred to only as Jane Doe, the $10 million “despite her innocence,” as part of a settlement agreement reached in May 2022 ‘in order to try to save the possible sale of Cambio comercial.’
Meanwhile, Freedman’s text messages came a month after banking firm HSBC announced it had made a $35 million investment in Tradeshift as part of a new joint venture.
The plaintiff claims her layoff at the $2.7 billion company came to an end in May 2020 after she complained to the company’s human resources department, its co-founders and members of its board of directors about her “suffering.” at the hands” of Laang. .
“Rape, sexual abuse, torture and assault” are among some of the things she claims she was subjected to under the slavery contract, a document Lanng claims in her countersuit was “simply a sexual accessory downloaded from the Internet “.
The CEO’s lawyers said the NSFW document was “simply a sexual prop downloaded from the Internet” and was “in no way intended to be enforceable” in the workplace.
Additionally, it alleged that Freedman’s Los Angeles-based Freedman Taitelman + Cooley LLP ‘hired third parties to develop fake websites and Twitter accounts to fabricate accounts of misconduct by Lanng in early 2023,’ attaching tweets of fake profiles as evidence.
The CEO’s lawyers said the NSFW document was “simply a sexual prop downloaded from the Internet” and was “in no way intended to be enforceable” in the workplace.
Additionally, it alleged that Freedman’s Los Angeles-based Freedman Taitelman + Cooley LLP ‘hired third parties to develop fake websites and Twitter accounts to fabricate accounts of misconduct by Lanng in early 2023,’ attaching tweets of fake profiles as evidence.
Lanng was fired from Tradeshift in September for “serious misconduct on multiple grounds” following “serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment,” senior officials at the $2.7 billion company he founded said.
One such post, published two months after the lawsuit was filed, said: ‘To Christian and the entire Tradeshift board of directors: I’m not going anywhere. None of us are. This is just the beginning.’
The reason for this was to “embarrass and intimidate Lanng into agreeing to pay even more money than the amount already paid,” the countersuit states.
Both lawsuits, as of this writing, remain ongoing.
A spokesman for Freedman criticized the countersuit as an attempt by Lanng to play the victim.
“It is nothing more than more abuse and a desperate attempt to deflect their own illegal conduct,” he said. The New York Post.