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An investment company paid at least seven severance payments to people who allegedly witnessed inappropriate behavior in their workplace by Michael Larson, Bill Gates’ money manager. This was revealed by a report published on Wednesday by The New York Times newspaper.
Larson’s alleged inappropriate behavior was registered with the company Cascade Investment which is in charge of managing the fortune of Bill Gates and Melinda French who on May 3 announced their separation after 26 years of marriage .
The report notes that Larson made sexual and racist comments at least ten former employees told the Times for which at least seven people who witnessed or knew of Larson’s behavior to keep quiet Gates’ support allowed Larson to maintain “a culture of fear” within the Cascade offices.
At least six employees reported Larson’s conduct
Larson, who has worked as Gates’ money manager for nearly three decades, singled out women based on their physical attractiveness among other employees in addition to showing photos of naked women to their colleagues and comparing them with executives who work in the company.
According to the report Employees were insulted by Larson by calling them “stupid” and marking their work as “garbage” . On one occasion, Larson made a racist comment to Stacy Ybarra when she told Larson that she had voted and he replied: “but you live in the ghetto and everyone knows that blacks do not vote,” according to different sources told the Times.
A spokesperson for Larson denied the newspaper some of the allegations , however, he clarified that Larson has been in charge of 100 people and that there are at least five complaints related to it . The spokesperson assured that Larson .
For his part A spokesperson for the founder of Microsoft said that the investment company has strong policies to deal with complaints that are registered so that “BMGI, (which is the initials with which they are sometimes used to name Cascade), take all complaints seriously and try to resolve them effectively to ensure a safe and respectful workplace . BMGI does not tolerate inappropriate behaviors, “said the spokesperson.
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