eXp Founder and CEO Glenn Sanford and his company have been dropped—at least temporarily—from one of two pending lawsuits that claim the company and top executives were complicit in an alleged drugging and sexual assault committed by two top recruiters.
Judge Andre Birotte, in a ruling issued last week, ruled that plaintiffs in the case had not sufficiently argued or provided evidence that the mega brokerage and its founder and CEO had benefited from the actions of Michael Bjorkman and David Golden, two top influencers at the company, who allegedly drugged and raped Anya Roberts, another eXp agent.
“Plaintiff hitches (Sanford and eXp’s) liability to a generalized theory that what may benefit Golden or Bjorkman necessarily benefits (Sanford and eXp) within the meaning of (sex trafficking laws), and without more, the Court cannot endorse that proposition based on the current pleading,” Birotte wrote.
An eXp spokesperson reiterated previous statements that the company “has zero tolerance for abuse, harassment, or misconduct of any kind,” adding that “claims against eXp and its leadership have no basis in fact or law, and we are pleased with the court’s decision to dismiss these claims.”
The case is one of two civil lawsuits targeting Sanford, eXp and other top influencers, who either protected or ignored what plaintiffs allege was years of misconduct and multiple assaults committed by Bjorkman and Golden—many taking place at company events.
The first lawsuit, filed back in February 2022 by four women making similar claims to Roberts’ (and also overseen by Birotte) was recently allowed to move forward.
The ruling in the Roberts lawsuit was somewhat telegraphed by Birotte, who last month discussed a preliminary order with lawyers for defendants and Roberts. As expected, he gave plaintiffs “leave to amend,” meaning they can add new evidence or arguments and attempt to re-add eXp and Sanford to the lawsuit.
Andrea Hirsch, a lawyer representing Roberts, told RISMedia via email that she will “definitely” be amending the lawsuits, and believes a new filing “will resolve the issues raised by defendants’ motions to dismiss.”
According to Roberts’ lawsuit, Bjorkman and Golden conspired to drug her at an eXp event in 2020 before Golden and his girlfriend sexually assaulted her. Golden then tried to convince Roberts to name him as her “sponsor” within the company, according to the lawsuit, eventually entering into a consensual relationship with her (though she never named him as a sponsor).
Roberts has argued that eXp knew or should have known that Bjorkman and Golden were victimizing women this way, but failed to intervene because the company benefited from the men’s successful recruiting efforts.
The law in question, known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act or TVPRA, can hold a person liable for sex trafficking if they “receive anything of value” and “know or should have known” about the venture, without “an overt act in furtherance of or actual knowledge” of what was going on, according to Birotte.
In the first lawsuit, Birotte allowed claims that eXp and Sanford were part of a sex trafficking venture based on several facts that differ from Roberts’ allegations, including that those women reported incidents of drugging and assault to eXp leadership (Roberts didn’t) and that some of the alleged victims did join eXp, which directly benefited the company and Sanford (Roberts was already affiliated with the company when the alleged assault occurred).
In Roberts’ lawsuit, Birotte wrote that she did not convincingly allege that eXp and Sanford benefited from the assault or efforts by Golden to have her change her sponsor.
“Even reading the complaint in favor of the Plaintiff, it remains unclear what benefit the (Sanford and eXp) stood to gain from Plaintiff switching her sponsor in response to the alleged sex acts,” he wrote.
Birotte also noted that Roberts did not allege that Sanford and eXp were aware of a police report that detailed numerous sexual assaults and druggings committed by Bjorkman going back as far as 2006.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to RISMedia for updates.
Editor’s note: this story was updated at 1:01 p.m. eastern time with comments from an eXp spokesperson.
