Back in 2022, half a dozen women came forward and filed a civil lawsuit against eXp Realty and its founder, Glenn Sanford, claiming that two “alpha agents” (Michael Bjorkman and David Golden) drugged and sexually assaulted them at company events.
The women argued that Sanford and other eXp leadership ignored their complaints, as well as previous allegations against at least one of the two men, seeking to protect revenue generated by both men through the brokerage’s multi-level recruiting and revenue share program.
A year later, another woman, Anya Roberts, came forward with largely similar allegations. Her claims will be heard first, with a trial starting Oct. 19 in federal court in Southern California.
Here is what you need to know as the trial begins:
eXp and its founder are on trial, too
CEO Glenn Sanford is not accused of assaulting any of the women, but the plaintiffs are seeking to prove that he—and his company—should be held liable based on their knowledge of and oversight of Bjorkman and Golden.
Those accusations get to the heart of the relationship between an independent contractor and a real estate company. Notably, some of the claims related to liability are based on California, not federal law, as different states have different laws relating to independent contractors and liability as it relates to hiring and supervision.
A key point will be how much knowledge Sanford and other eXp executives had, and what they did with that knowledge. Roberts broadly alleges the company failed to act on several specific complaints and detailed descriptions of assaults by Bjorkman and Golden, while eXp has repeatedly claimed it swiftly took action once allegations came to light.
Additionally, Roberts has pointed to an eXp managing broker, Debbie Penny, who was aware of previous allegations against Bjorkman when he joined the brokerage under her oversight. eXp has argued that it is not responsible for the fact that Penny did not report or follow up on those allegations—which she learned about before she joined eXp.
eXp is expected to call an expert witness to testify that California only requires a broker to check on prospective agents’ license status, and eXp’s vetting process “complied with the standard of care” required by law.
A lot of the liability issues hinge on eXp’s revenue share program. Roberts has argued that Sanford and eXp were motivated to protect Bjorkman and Golden due to directly benefitting from their “downline” of revenue share.
Those benefits are also part of Robert’s sex trafficking allegations under a federal law called the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which allows victims to sue people or entities that “knew or should have known” about trafficking while simultaneously benefitting from those acts—even indirectly.
Sanford is scheduled to testify, along with eXp Chief Legal Counsel James Bramble and Chief Brokerage Officer Holly Mabery.
One trial has become two
After a lot of wrangling, Judge Andre Birotte ruled in late August that Bjorkman and Golden would have an entirely separate trial from eXp and Sanford, with a different jury (something the men requested).
In response, Roberts dropped several of the specific legal charges against the two men, including sex trafficking claims, reserving those for the subsequent trial against eXp and Sanford, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 16.
Plaintiffs are specifically asking the second jury be told not to “speculate” why Bjorkman and Golden are not part of the second trial, while still hearing evidence of their conduct. eXp has argued this notification is unnecessary.
It is unclear how a verdict in the Bjorkman and Golden trial will impact eXp and Sanford’s trial. A lawyer for Golden accused Roberts of seeking to avoid an acquittal on the sex trafficking charges in the first trial because that would “hurt her” in the subsequent trial against eXp.
The company has been making some moves
Notably, a little over a month before the trial was scheduled to begin, Sanford announced he was stepping down as CEO of eXp’s parent company, AGNT, which also oversees NextHome and other subsidiary companies. He will remain chairman of the board at AGNT, while Leo Pareja, formerly CEO of eXp’s brokerage firm, eXp Realty, takes over.
Pareja first joined eXp in 2022, after Bjorkman and Golden were separated from the company, and has not been named or implicated in Roberts’ lawsuit.
Separately, back in the spring, eXp reincorporated from Delaware to Texas, facing a lawsuit from shareholders in Delaware court over how it handled the allegations against Bjorkman and Golden.
eXp denied that move was related to the lawsuit.
