Former Guess Models Sue Guess Board, Paul Marciano Strikes Back – WWD

Two of the women who have accused Paul Marciano of sexual misconduct have filed a lawsuit against Guess’ board members claiming they aided and abetted sexual harassment.

That legal action was revealed Thursday by the pair’s lawyer during a press conference that was organized by The Bloom Firm. The women, Amanda Rodriguez and “Gwen,” who declined to provide her surname, were two of three former models who spoke of their alleged abuse publicly for the first time. They are identified in the suit that was filed in the Superior Court of California’s Los Angeles County as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2. The 34-page complaint alleges violation of the state’s fair employment and housing act. In the filing, Jane Doe 1 alleges that Marciano groped her breasts and commented about the size of them on more than one occasion.

The second Jane Doe claimed that Marciano requested a kiss on each cheek during a Lake Como, Italy, shoot, which she complied with uncomfortably. At another point during the July 2020 shoot, he requested a photo with her, when she was wearing only a bathrobe draped off one shoulder and stroked her bare shoulder. The filing noted that she emailed a letter to the defendants and other directors detailing her experience with Marciano and how it made her uncomfortable, and claimed that Guess should not have put her and the other models in a situation where she — and others — could be sexually harassed by them. She asked that Guess take immediate steps to prevent sexual harassment in the future, according to the complaint.

The press event was the latest attempt to amp up the pressure on the company to remove Marciano, who started Guess with his brother Maurice in 1981. Activist investor Legion Partners has been calling for Paul Marciano, who serves as chief creative officer, to resign due to multiple allegations of sexual misconduct that first surfaced publicly several years ago.

But five hours later, Marciano’s legal team struck back. In response to Thursday’s press conference, an attorney for Marciano, Shawn Holley, issued a press release. In a statement, Marciano said, “ I know for a fact that The Bloom Firm has fabricated false claims of alleged rape about me and others to extract big money settlements. Her [Lisa Bloom, The Bloom Firm’s founder] plan did not work. The courts will decide who is being truthful. And to Lisa Bloom: Please sue me if I’m not correct about that. You are, in my opinion, a very unethical lawyer. No surprise that you told your former client, Harvey Weinstein, he should be ‘the hero of the story, not the villain.’ Really? You love the media attention because there are no consequences for your acts. You hate to be in court where you need actual proof and evidence.”

Representing Rodriguez and “Gwen,” Bloom Firm attorney Arick Fudali claimed that despite knowing of 12 plausible allegations of sexual misconduct against Marciano in 2018, the company’s board of directors voted to keep him at Guess, to reinstate him as chief creative officer and to give him back his day-to-day role at the company as well as ”unfettered access” to female models. Fudali claimed that after his clients’ allegations were made known, the board rewarded Marciano with a $3.1 million bonus.

Those two accusers are suing the individual board members for allegedly aiding and abetting the sexual harassment of them by Marciano, their lawyer said. The suit is meant to not only hold those who sexually harass models accountable, but also those who facilitate, Fudali said.

The two former Guess models, as well as another former Guess model identified only as “San,” and attorney Lisa Bloom called on any other accusers to contact Bloom’s law firm. Their last names are not being released, a spokesman said.

Marciano has repeatedly denied the allegations against him. Holley’s release reiterated that, noting “the claims today are false. We are confident that a review of all of the evidence will prove that these claims have no merit. Paul Marciano has been a target of this scenario repeatedly by Ms. Bloom. He is disgusted by these baseless allegations, which are categorically untrue. Paul Marciano has built Guess from the ground up and devoted his life to the company and people who work there. Anyone who knows Paul Marciano knows that these allegations are preposterous.”

In 2018, Marciano temporarily stepped away from the company after misconduct allegations surfaced publicly, including ones from model Kate Upton. But he wound up staying with the company and gave up his title of executive chairman. Legion Partners’ cofounders Ted White and Chris Kiper attended Thursday’s press conference in Los Angeles, Bloom said.

A spokesperson for Legion Partners did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

As reported, White has criticized Guess’ board for making “half-hearted assurances and empty promises” that they “want to do the right thing.” The decision to move the Guess annual meeting up more than two months was perceived by Legion Partners as a “highly irregular maneuver to try to prevent Legion or other shareholders from being able to take action as shareholders…”

Guess has said it tried to work out “a mutually agreeable path forward with Legion and discussed not only a new ESG committee of the board with a strong oversight mandate but also a significant capital allocation program, to benefit all Guess shareholders, and other measurable governance commitments.”

In her experience of fighting cases of discrimination, harassment and abuse since the 1980s, Bloom alleged, “This is the worst company that I have ever seen. I do not know of another company today that has anywhere near this number of allegations of serious sexual harassment and sexual assault cases against a prominent executive and yet continues to employ him…”

Referring to lawsuits that have been filed on behalf of a few of the former Guess models who spoke publicly Thursday, Bloom alleged Guess has not done a proper investigation, “as far as we know. Instead, Guess follows its old playbook of hiring private investigators, using its teams of attorneys to attempt to shame and embarrass the women into silence, forcing accusers into private, secret arbitration and always protecting Paul Marciano, who still controls the company.”

Bloom noted that last year Guess’ insurance company sued Marciano and Guess alleging a pattern of “inter-related wrongful acts” on the part of Marciano, because of the number of women who have accused him of “similar claims.” She also highlighted the public campaign by Legion Partners calling for the removal of Marciano and his brother Maurice.

Without specifying, Rodriguez said she had some terrible experiences that she did not know how to deal with at the time and that led to flashbacks, panic attacks, nightmares, debilitating depression and suicidal thoughts. “If it were not for my family, I would probably not be here any more,” she said, adding that her September 2020 written complaint to Guess’ human resources department about what Marciano allegedly “did to her” resulted in an investigation about her. Rodriguez claimed that Marciano personally called people who knew her and the company accused her of copyright infringement for selling her old Guess clothing on a resale site.

Rodriguez said she filed her sexual assault and retaliation lawsuit in January 2021 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. “Because I am still afraid of this company, I am not repeating the allegations here,” she said, adding that Guess and Marciano allegedly forced her into arbitration in front of a private judge.

Gwen described working on 11 Guess campaigns for the company, starting at the age of 17. “On my last campaign in 2020, Paul Marciano made me feel very uncomfortable with both physical and verbal acts,” she alleged, adding that she wrote a letter to Guess’ board explaining exactly what happened on the shoot, but they did not acknowledge her complaints of alleged sexual harassment with respect to Marciano. Never hired again by the company, the accuser claimed that she was forced into private arbitration. “Models deserve to work in a safe environment where they are not subject to unwanted sexual contact. They should be able to speak up when their safety is threatened without having to end their careers with the company,” she said.

Eileen Toal, who worked in a store owned by the Marcianos in the early ’80s, also alleged sexual misconduct by Paul Marciano during Thursday’s event. Photographer and music video director Chris Applebaum also claimed to have witnessed Marciano sexually harassing models.