One of Better.com’s former executives has filed a lawsuit against the online mortgage lender, alleging that the company and CEO Vishal Garg misled investors when they tried to go public. via SPAC, report The Wall Street Journal.
Sarah Pierce was previously executive vice president of customer experience, sales, and operations at Better.com break up the company this early year. At the time, it was not clear if she left voluntarily or was asked to resign but Pierce said that now in her suit, she was pushed out.
In her lawsuit filed today, according to the Wall Street Journal, Pierce alleges that Better.com misrepresented its business and prospects so it could continue with SPAC that would give the company an after-equity value of about $7.7 billion. SPAC has been delayed and is yet to take place.
According to the Journal, her complaint, alleging that Garg and Better’s “treatment of her was unlawful retaliation, defamation and intentional mental distress.”
At the time of her departure in February, TechCrunch reported that – according to sources close to internal developments at the company – Pierce had been trying to protect hundreds of employees the company had fired in January. 12 after the CEO publicly described them as lazy and inefficient. That allegedly caused “a lot of tension” between her and Garg and the board. Pierce is said to have been annoyed with the way Garg publicly disparaged employees, most of whom reported to her, after mercilessly remove them via Zoom.
TechCrunch has reached out to Better.com and Pierce and will update this story if and when either person comments.
Meanwhile, a source familiar with the lawsuit told TechCrunch that Garg “always exaggerates” the company’s numbers and “wouldn’t listen” to Pierce or any other executives when it voiced concerns. hesitate. Pierce, the source said, was allegedly kicked out of the company for voicing her concerns.
According to an S-4 filed by Aurora Acquisition Corp., the entity that Better.com will merge, Pierce earned $856,061 last year, was awarded $1 million, and was awarded $17.37 million in options. buy shares.
Based on Forbes, this is not the first time a female director has denounced the company’s improper behavior. Company in April 2021 put former product manager Elana Kollner on administrative leave following allegations of bullying and other workplace grievances.
The company has continued to appear in the headlines multiple times over the past six months. On December 1, 2021, Better.com lay off about 900 employees via a Zoom video call has become commonplace. It’s hardly the first company to pull people out of Zoom during a global pandemic. But it was the way it was handled that offended many.
The Garg co-founder has been widely criticized for being cold and lacking in enthusiasm in his approach. He also insulted the injury in the following days Public accusations of affected workers “steal” from their colleagues and customers by being inefficient.
Above all, just one day beforeCFO Kevin Ryan sent an email to employees saying the company will have $1 billion on balance sheet on that weekend. In the weeks following the layoff, Garg”sorry“And it took a month”break. ” Meanwhile, employee detailed how he”led by fear,And a number of senior executives and two board members have resigned.
Then, on March 8, the company estimated to lay off about 3,000 of the company’s remaining 8,000 employees in the United States and India and “accidentally paid severance pay too early.”
In April, a filing revealed that Better.com has lost money more than 300 million dollars last yeara significant turnaround since turning a profit in 2020. Garg has also been the target of numerous lawsuits by PIMCO, Goldman Sachs and other investors involving entities he controls.
In recent months, multiple parties have contacted TechCrunch, including customers who said they lost money when the company closed their homes, former employees who said they were not given stock options that were owed. they and others say they can’t collect unemployment because Better reportedly didn’t pay the appropriate taxes.
