Chief Operating Officer of Wall St’s GoldenTree Asset Management was ousted after regularly holding meetings with his pants down, making ‘disgusting’ sexual comments and impregnating a subordinate
- William Christian was GoldenTree Asset Management’s longtime COO
- He sued the company this week over $1.2 million, which arbitrator found he owed after his departure in 2020
- Christian claimed that the company owed him up to $5 million
- But the arbitrator said an investigation found he had engaged in misconduct
- He was known to subject ’employees to in-person meetings and conversations while his pants were pulled down’ and created a hostile environment
Former GoldenTree Asset Management COO, William Christian, was reportedly ousted after complaints of ‘disgusting sexual comments’ and impregnating a subordinate
GoldenTree Asset Management’s longtime chief operating officer was ousted from the company after complaints that he held meetings with his pants pulled down to his ankles, made ‘disgusting sexual comments’ and got a subordinate pregnant – and then lied about it.
The claims were made public on Tuesday when the company’s ex-COO William Christian, filed a lawsuit against the company over the $1.2 million he received following his exit. He claimed he was owed $5 million.
But when Christian filed the lawsuit, Mike Segall, the arbitrator hearing Christian’s pay dispute, revealed an investigation by GoldenTree that alleges that the former COO engaged in misconduct, falsified expense reports and made ‘disgusting sexual comments’ to his employees.
In court documents filed by GoldenTree and obtained by Business Insider, the company claimed that Christian expensed meals inappropriately, including at least one with a lower-level employee who he got pregnant and took to Spain on a trip that wasn’t for business purposes.
Christian, who had worked at the hedge fund from 2004-2020, was also known to subject his ’employees to in-person meetings and conversations while his pants were pulled down to his ankles,’ the court documents state.
Christian was fired in January 2020 for lying during the investigation.
Before being ousted, the former COO reportedly showed ‘at least one subordinate a picture of his exposed genitals,’ and ‘hurled frequent and gratuitous insults,’ creating a ‘hostile work environment’ the court documents show.
‘Christian subjected employees to in-person meetings and conversations while his pants were pulled down to his ankles,’ claiming that he ‘needed to ice his knees,’ Segall wrote.
In court documents filed by GoldenTree, the company claimed that William Christian expensed meals inappropriately, including at least one with an employee who he got pregnant
Christian also ‘admitted turning on pornography at least briefly on a television in a hotel room full of GoldenTree employees’ and violated company policy by asking an assistant to buy biking gear for him on what appeared to be a porn website, according to the court documents.
‘In sum, he created a hostile work environment,’ Segall wrote.
The woman named in the court documents was fired for lying during the investigation and now works at Coremont, according to her LinkedIn page. She did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Her immediate supervisor testified that he felt he couldn’t discipline her because of her relationship with Christian, who was higher up in the company, according to the documents.
Neither GoldenTree nor Christian’s lawyers at Adam Russ of Wasser & Russ responded for a comment request from DailyMail.com on Wednesday.
GoldenTree, led by billionaire founder Steven Tananbaum, has more than 250 employees
GoldenTree, which is led by billionaire founder Steven Tananbaum, has more than 250 employees at eight locations all over the world.
The firm’s website notes its commitment to the ‘professional growth’ of women via its internal group called Golden Gals.
The firm has donated to charities, including those that are women-in-finance-focused organizations including 100 Women in Finance, Girls Who Invest, and Encouraging Women Across All Borders.
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