is winding down with the venture capitalist emerging victorious and vindicated.
Michael Goguen won a 3-year legal battle against his former mistress Amber Laurel Baptiste in California Superior Court,. The judge in the case ruled in Goguen's favor and found Baptiste, a former exotic dancer, committed fraud and extortion when she threatened to go public with accusations that he had given her a sexually transmitted infection, according to Bloomberg. Baptiste, who was not present for the 3-day trial that wrapped on Dec. 20, has until Jan. 10 to appeal.
The lawsuit has powered the Silicon Valley rumor mill since 2016, and its effects have followed Goguen to his new home in Whitefish, Montana, he told Bloomberg. He said he struggled to raise funds for his new venture firm because limited partners were conscious of attracting negative press by working with him.
The initial lawsuit filed by Baptiste was graphic enough to turn away even the least risk averse investors from working with Goguen, even 3 years later. Baptiste accused Goguen of "sexually, physically, and emotionally" abusing her for more than 13 years and then refusing to pay her the $40 million agreed-upon settlement in full.
Goguen was considered one of the leading investors at Sequoia Capital, having overseen several highly lucrative IPOs and exits from his networking and cybersecurity investments over his 20-year career. The initial lawsuit filed in 2016 came just as the #MeToo movement was gaining traction among the upper echelons of all businesses, and Goguen was quickly dismissed as the lawsuit played out.
Oook Mike