Delphia co-founder furloughed after ex-employee sexual assault allegations

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Delphia, a mobile investment platform, is facing a lawsuit and allegations that its co-founder and CTO Cameron Agius-Westland sexually assaulted and harassed a former employee, according to a lawsuit filed Monday and shared exclusively with TechCrunch.

The complaint alleges that on August 17, 2022, Westland sexually assaulted and harassed the plaintiff for at least 30 minutes, while rubbing her back and legs in a hot tub in a sexual manner while on a work retreat. The complaint was filed in the United States and Canada.

Later that night, Westland whispered in the ears of the claimants what do you say, we should do this, you and I do this. The complainant acted as if she did not understand or hear him, according to the document. Then, at her first opportunity, the plaintiff told everyone she was going to bed, went to her bedroom and locked the door. In the complaint, the former employee also alleges that she later received a text from Westland asking, Do you want to hug? to which she says she did not respond.

The following day, in the complaint, Westland allegedly acknowledged his behavior at least in part by sending the plaintiff and two other colleagues the following message, as shared in a screenshot of the document:

Screenshot provided by Avloni Law (opens in a new window)

After the alleged incident, the plaintiff was terminated in mid-November 2022, after Westland wanted to change the company’s strategy, according to the document. She was replaced soon after by what the ex-employee complaint describes as Westlands’ close friend Max Cameron, who is now director of community products at Delphia.

Andrew Peek, CEO and co-founder of Delphia, shared a statement with TechCrunch in response to the lawsuit allegations:

Delphia takes the allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Westland very seriously. Delphia has always held itself to the highest standards and therefore we have retained the services of an independent third party investigator to investigate these allegations. Mr. Westland has been placed on leave pending an investigation. That said, Delphia denies allegations that the plaintiff in this litigation was terminated for any reason other than that her services were no longer needed. Furthermore, the person identified as Mr. Westland’s “close friend” works in a completely different part of the organization and has not taken over the Applicant’s responsibilities.

Delphia closed a $60 million Series A led by Multicoin Capital in June 2022. Other investors in the round include Ribbit Capital, M13, Lattice Ventures and the now defunct FTX Ventures. In December 2022, Delphia announced its acquisition of Fathom Privacy, a data rights company that aims to provide individuals with the ability to own personal application data.

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