Amazon Sued Over Alleged Assault and Career Harm

Laura Danbom has sued Amazon, alleging that the company required her to keep working with an executive she accused of sexually assaulting her during a New York business trip in October 2023 and harmed her career after she reported it. The allegations against Amazon and executive Michelangelo Simonte have not been established in court. Danbom’s lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court in Washington, accuses Amazon of creating a hostile work environment and violating the state’s Silenced No More Act. The complaint says the alleged assault occurred in the early hours of October 28, after a company event and later gathering at karaoke bars on October 27. Danbom and Simonte, an advertising executive based in Madrid, were among the colleagues on the trip, according to the filing. Danbom says she reported the incident to the New York Police Department the next day and underwent a sexual assault forensic examination. The complaint alleges that Simonte left a condom behind and that police monitored a later phone call between them. In that call, he reportedly said he was certain they had not had sex; he later told police he was too drunk to remember what happened, according to the...