American Apparel founder Dov Charney deflected a question about his sexual involvement with employees.
American Apparel founder Dov Charney has started a new wholesale clothing company called Los Angeles Apparel.Charney started the company late last year, two years after he was forced out of American Apparel following a string of sexual harassment allegations lodged against him by several of his own employees.
In a new interview with Bloomberg's Matthew Townsend, Charney was asked whether he is "going down the same path at Los Angeles Apparel and hooking up with employees."
Surprisingly, Charney deflected the question and didn't deny any sexual involvement with workers. Instead he responded cryptically, "That question is private, and it should be private."
When asked if he's being "more careful," he said,"You always have to be cautious in the lawsuit society that we're in, you know. ... I love the company, and I love the people I work with. We're very close and we're holding hands and walking through the fire. We intend to be successful."
Charney has never been charged or convicted for sexual harassment claims against him in any court of law.
However, American Apparel previously settled cases with four models who claimed they had been harassed or sexually assaulted by Charney. The company paid a sum of $3.4 million to two models. The other two settlements were confidential.
In 2015, after Charney had already left American Apparel, the company's board accused him of violating company policies prohibiting harassment and retaliation against former employees.
"The company discovered voluminous evidence of Mr. Charney's sexual liaisons with employees and models," the company said in court papers.
Charney was also accused of using ethnic slurs against workers and keeping videos on a company server of himself engaging in sex acts with models and employees.
In response, Charney filed a defamation lawsuit against the company that was later dismissed.