In the late stages of a lawsuit against eXp alleging the brokerage allowed and covered up sexual assaults at company events, eXp is seeking to have a new charge of fraud dismissed. In a third amended complaint filed late October, plaintiffs claimed that eXp executives lied both privately and publicly about investigating allegations of multiple women.
Lawyers representing four women suing eXp who claim they were drugged and assaulted by two top “alpha agents”—Michael Bjorkman and David Golden—are citing testimony and notes revealed through discovery, including at least one executive who told Bjorkman explicitly the company was “not investigating.”
eXp, for its part, points out that plaintiffs have not disputed the company took statements and looked into the allegations, characterizing these actions as an investigation and noting that “action was taken,” as both men were eventually separated from the brokerage (though Bjorkman was paid around $1 million through the company’s revenue share after being fired, and Golden was not separated until the lawsuit was filed years later—officially for failing to pay MLS fees).
The company has continued to broadly deny that it mishandled the accusations against Bjorkman and Golden, saying it acted “as soon as the accusers brought (incidents) to our attention” and separated the men.
The latest back-and-forth represents another escalation in the numerous accusations against the company, most centering on Bjorkman and Golden, but with other executives also accused of separate misconduct. Besides this lawsuit (known as Acevedo v. eXp), the company is facing at least three other lawsuits by women who claim they were harassed or retaliated against. A trial in the Acevedo case is currently scheduled for next June.
According to the plaintiff’s recent court filing, during a deposition over the summer, SVP of Agent Compliance Cory Haggard was presented with notes he took after a call with Bjorkman in 2020—shortly after top executives received detailed allegations against him, Golden and others—in which he wrote that Bjorkman was told “we are not investigating.” (Jim Nuth, another top eXp executive, was also on the call and Haggard testified he couldn’t remember what was actually said, but acknowledged one of them conveyed this to Bjorkman.)
“Plaintiffs…justifiably relied on eXp’s false statements that it was conducting an investigation into their complaints that they were drugged and assaulted,” they wrote.
As far as what investigation was taken, eXp says it took written statements, spoke with legal counsel, offered to speak to witnesses, held meetings of the Agent Compliance Committee and terminated Bjorkman.
“Being unhappy with the manner in which the investigation was conducted, or the results of the investigation, are simply not the same thing as the eXp Entities falsely representing that an investigation was being conducted,” eXp wrote.
The plaintiffs further cited communications in 2022 between eXp Chief Legal Officer Jim Bramble and one of the women, with Bramble saying that there were no other complaints against Golden, despite the company having already received and reviewed numerous allegations from at least three other women. Other executives, including then-eXp Realty CEO Jason Gesing, said that the company’s Agent Compliance Committee was investigating the complaints, which was not true, according to plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs point to language in the independent contractor agreements that all the agents sign promising that “(a)ll reported or suspected occurrences of harassment will be promptly and thoroughly investigated.”
eXp, which also argued in its response that plaintiffs entirely fail to meet the legal standard of fraud with these claims, point out that plaintiffs “made no allegation” as to whether Haggard or other executives were speaking on behalf of the company when they made these statements—at least from a legal standpoint.
But the women claim that eXp ignored internal recommendations that it hire an outside law firm to conduct the investigation, and also that top executives personally skirted rules or lobbied for Bjorkman and Golden. eXp Founder and CEO Glenn Sanford personally showed up to an Agent Compliance Meeting (for the first time) to advocate for Bjorkman, according to the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs previously revealed messages between Bjorkman and Sanford—also a defendant in the lawsuit—in which Sanford told Bjorkman “I have your back” in the days after allegations surfaced, later saying he was “lobbying in the background” for Bjorkman to keep his revenue share.
The alleged misrepresentations amount to fraud, the plaintiffs argue, because they were relying on eXp’s promise of an investigation as many of them continued to affiliate with the company.
“The eXp Defendants knew they had not conducted the promised investigation, knew that the absence of any investigation was material to plaintiffs’…continued relationship with eXp, and intentionally misrepresented that fact to induce plaintiffs…to remain affiliated with eXp, continue to publicly support eXp, continue to share commissions with eXp, continue to pay eXp’s monthly fees, and forgo outside complaints,” they wrote.
Additionally, eXp is requesting that if the judge allows the fraud claim to move forward, that he also delay the trial and allow more discovery. The plaintiffs are opposing that effort, noting that the case has been delayed five times already and that eXp knew that they intended to file the fraud allegations for almost six months.
