American Apparel founder sued for sexual assault

The founder of American Apparel has been sued by a former employee.

Los Angeles: The founder of American Apparel, Dov Charney, has been sued by another former employee, who said he sexually assaulted her “during what she believed to be a hiring interview” at his home.The suit, which is the second against Charney, was filed in L.A. County Superior Court by Kimbra Lo, who revealed he began sending her “sexual text messages” in July 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to the suit, which was first reported by the New York Times, she said that he called her and said “he was masturbating on the phone while they spoke”. According to the suit, Lo ignored his calls and messages until Charney offered her a modelling and photography job in December, inviting her to meet him in his home to discuss the position. After she arrived, Charney, wearing only a towel, “violently kissed her” and forced her to perform sexual acts. Later, Lo’s mother called Charney and told him to stay away from her daughter, “whereupon Charney begged forgiveness and admitted he had a problem”. Three other women filed the suit along with Lo, saying in the court document that American Apparel improperly forced them to sign confidential arbitration agreements with the company before they would be hired, and that the company had initiated arbitration proceedings with them, but details as to what dispute the arbitration matters were dealing with weren’t made public. ANI