A federal judge last week recently moved a lawsuit forward against a former Santa Clarita Valley Realtor being sued in federal court over allegations he drugged and sexually assaulted more than one victim and his firm, eXp Realty, ignored complaints.
On Tuesday, Judge Andre Birotte Jr. dismissed an effort by eXp Realty’s attorneys to dismiss a third amended complaint against the firm, instead asking for an acceptable trial schedule from both sides.
Birotte made his ruling without hearing oral arguments, according to the April 7 minute order, then gave both sides 14 days to submit a new court schedule and extended the deadline for the sharing of evidence, a legal process known as discovery, by 60 days.
One of the defendants, Brent Gove, an eXp Realty agent who touts more than 18,000 agents in one of his sales, “reached a confidential settlement fully and finally resolving all claims asserted by plaintiffs against defendant Brent Gove only,” according to the minute order.
Birotte’s minute order refers to eXp Realty as a publicly traded, multilevel, “cloud-based,” global real estate company.
“This case concerns allegations surrounding eXp’s ‘longstanding culture’ of allowing its most influential male agents to sexually assault female agents and then ‘silenc[e] those whose accounts of sexual harassment and assault would impact profit,’” according to the minute order, citing the plaintiffs’ allegations.
“Plaintiffs allege that defendants (Mike) Bjorkman and (David) Golden, two influencers at eXp, engaged in a venture to entice plaintiffs to travel to recruitment events with the promise of career advancement. At these events, defendants Bjorkman and Golden used illicit drugs to sexually assault the plaintiffs,” according to the complaint in the minute order, which claims the defendants “knew of and ignored this conduct. Moreover, due to eXp’s business model, defendants continued to financially benefit from plaintiffs’ involvement in eXp.”
Bjorkman once again maintained his denial of all the allegations in a phone interview Monday.
He was criminally charged in Nevada, but the case was dismissed before going to trial.
The allegations in federal court have dragged on for years.
The first complaint of the named plaintiff involves an allegation from 2018, involving a Realtor who says she reported the incident in 2022 to eXp CEO Glenn Sanford.
“In early 2018, defendant Golden began trying to recruit plaintiff to eXp. As one of her long-time friends, she believed he was a leader in the real estate space and trusted him,” according to the complaint cited in the minute order.
She didn’t have a hotel room at a convention and was told Bjorkman was trustworthy, according to the complaint.
“That evening, plaintiff … had one cocktail but remembers nothing else. The next day, she woke up naked in defendant Bjorkman’s room,” according to the complaint.
When she reached out to eXp, she was prevented from getting assistance, the complaint alleges.
“In April 2022, having received no help, (the plaintiff) reached out to defendant eXp World Holdings board member, Felicia Gentry. Gentry attempted to help (the plaintiff) by trying to engage outside counsel. However, defendant Sanford allegedly prevented Gentry from doing so,” according to the complaint.
“Throughout the process, plaintiff … was forced to painfully recollect details of her assault numerous times and provide statements in writing, over the phone the telephone, and over Zoom, providing these details to several members of the eXp senior leadership team. Had she known no investigation was being conducted, she would not have allowed herself to be questioned on numerous occasions about the assault, causing significant emotional distress,” her complaint continued.
Another defendant told a similar story about an eXp event that happened in 2019 in Beverly Hills. A third defendant gave sworn statements about a similar event happening in Las Vegas, Nevada in August 2020.
“She tried to discuss the incident with defendant Golden in the following weeks but defendant Golden encouraged her to lie when interviewed by the police,” according to a summary of the complaint.
“Plaintiffs have sufficiently pled a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation,” according to Birotte’s findings in the minute order, which gave several examples from the testimony mentioned in the complaint. “The court disagrees with defendants and finds that plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged misrepresentation by eXp defendants.”
