Shareholders at eXp World Holdings, the parent company of eXp Realty, are unhappy about the recent spate of lawsuits and media coverage the firm has received regarding allegations of sexual assault and harassment.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS) and the Building Trades Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania sued Glenn Sanford, Jason Gesing and five other board members for eXp World Holdings, accusing them of mishandling the sexual assault allegations that have come to light through a an expose by The New York Times and a series of lawsuits.
LACERS has been an eXp shareholder since 2019, while the Pennsylvania pension fund joined on 2021.
In the suit, the shareholder plaintiffs claim that Sanford and the other board members breached their fiduciary duty by failing to ensure eXp had “reasonable reporting and information systems” for employees and agents to inform leaders of sexual assault and misconduct.
Additionally, the filing alleges that Sanford and the eXp board created a “culture of fear and retaliation” as they blocked efforts to improve the company’s reporting and response systems for employees and agents experiencing sexual assault and harassment.
According to the filing, the company’s diversity director, who was supposed to be the one processing complaints, “confirmed that he was never allowed to know the process for anonymous emails. He was able to poke holes in the Company’s policies, and any time he challenged a policy, he was told that he did not understand the real estate business.”
“Whenever he tried to get a policy approved, he was met with pushback and told that’s not how things were done at eXp,” the complaint stated.
The shareholders’ suit focuses on three lawsuits known as Roberts, Acevedo and Carter. All three suits accuse eXp agents and recruiters of sexual harassment and assault. The Carter suit was dismissed in June 2024.
The plaintiffs in the Roberts and Acevedo cases claim that former eXp agents and recruiters Michael Bjorkman and David Golden gave them substances at recruiting events that caused them to black out. The women claim they were sexually assaulted by Golden and Bjorkman while unconscious. Sanford and eXp are named as defendants in both suits.
In an amended complaint, plaintiff Anya Roberts alleges that eXp “at worst knew of, encouraged, and permitted abhorrent behavior; or at the least, recklessly disregarded, and willfully turned a blind eye to ‘things that are on the wrong side of the law.’”
The plaintiffs in these two cases argue that the brokerage firm’s inaction regarding their complaints about Bjorkman and Golden was due to the money the men brought in through eXp’s revenue share program. The program provides agents with a cut of the firm’s revenue for each successfully closed transaction by an agent in their downline stream.
The shareholders single out Sanford, Gesing and board member Eugene Frederick as benefiting the most from the revenue share program. According to the filing, Sanford and Fredrick earned bonuses in 2020 of $1.5 million and $3.9 million, respectively, while Gesing netted a bonus of $545,506 in 2021.
The filing also noted that Sanford has recently “stopped formally participating” in the revenue share program. But filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that Sanford’s compensation package has been updated with a cash bonus that reflects the difference between his salary and what he was receiving through the revenue share program.
The shareholders claim that the defendants “prioritized their bonuses and boys’ club over the basic safety of the Company’s workers and compliance with law. Their bonuses are calculated based on the revenue share income generated by the Influencers in their downline and can be very significant, as the Company generates approximately $28 million per month in revenue share income.”
“A top Influencer leaving the Company would be catastrophic for Sanford, Frederick, and Gesing’s revenue share because it would put at risk the revenue share income generated by that Influencer and all the agents in their downline,” the filing stated.
“Defendants chose to cover up this sexual misconduct, allowing it to continue and endangering the safety of the real estate agents who make up the lifeblood of the Company. Board ignored these reports and agents’ pleas for recourse. Instead, Defendants orchestrated a cover-up to protect the assailants, prioritizing the profits that inflated executive bonuses over agent safety and compliance with the law — as well as basic human decency,” the filing added.
Additionally, the shareholders stated that by failing to do their fiduciary duty, Sanford and the board led the firm to experience “significant harm” to its reputation and monetary value.
The shareholder plaintiffs are asking Sanford, Gesing and the other defendants to return the profits, benefits and other compensation they made during the time of the alleged assaults. Along with damages and expenses related to the suit, they also seek to have the firm create a viable sexual assault and harassment reporting system.
In an emailed comment to HousingWire, an eXp World Holdings spokesperson wrote that the company takes its “responsibility to foster a safe and inclusive environment very seriously.”
“eXp Realty has zero tolerance for abuse, harassment, or misconduct of any kind — including by the independent real estate agents who use our services,” the spokesperson wrote. “The claims in this case stem from alleged assaults by independent real estate agents — which we handled with seriousness and deep respect, in line with our Company values, policies, and procedures.
“The Company will continue to do its best to ensure we create a safe environment that provides an opportunity for our employees and agents to succeed.”
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