Former top Bloomberg lieutenant steps down from financial services company after Business Insider reports past harassment complaints
- TMX Group, a Canadian-financial services firm, announced on Friday that CEO Lou Eccleston will be stepping down from the company, following a Business Insider investigation that revealed he allegedly engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior while working at Bloomberg LP in the 1990s.
- According to several witness statements discovered by Business Insider, Eccleston openly flirted with female employees, inappropriately touched them at office and social gatherings, excessively drank at work events, and engaged in sexual relationships with coworkers.
- Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor running for president, was told about Eccleston's alleged behavior while working at Bloomberg LP, according to accusations in legal filings previously reported on by Business Insider.
- Eccleston's departure comes as Michael Bloomberg faces scrutiny over the culture he fostered at his namesake company, which multiple former employees have characterized as toxic and sexually charged.
- On Friday, the company said Eccleston will be retiring early to "avoid further distraction to the Company," despite his contract being set to expire in December 2020. According to TMX's Board of Directors, an independent investigator found no evidence that Eccleston engaged in sexual harassment or sexual misconduct while at TMX Group
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TMX Group, a Canadian-financial services firm, announced on Friday that CEO Lou Eccleston will be stepping down from the company, following a November Business Insider investigation revealing allegations that he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior during his tenure at Bloomberg LP in the 1990s.
Business Insider previously reported that Eccleston, then a senior manager at the financial-data firm created by presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, was accused by multiple employees in court records and New York Division of Human Rights filings of preying on women with impunity. The article described allegations of a toxic workplace and misconduct at Bloomberg LP, documented in a string of lawsuits spanning decades at the company.
According to several witness statements discovered by Business Insider, former employees alleged that Eccleston openly flirted with female employees, inappropriately touched them at office and social gatherings, excessively drank at work events, and engaged in sexual relationships with coworkers. One witness statement filed with the New York Division of Human Rights said that "Lou Eccleston is the biggest sleaze in the world. There are two ways to get ahead with Eccleston: Kiss his ass, kiss his penis."
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Following the publication of the story, TMX Group announced an investigation into Eccleston's past conduct. On Friday, the company said he will be retiring early to "avoid further distraction to the Company," despite his contract being set to expire in December 2020. According to TMX's Board of Directors, an independent investigator found no evidence that Eccleston engaged in sexual harassment or sexual misconduct while at TMX Group.
"The Board accepts Mr. Eccleston's decision to retire and recognizes his outstanding efforts since taking on the CEO role in October 2014," Charles Winograd, Chair of TMX Group, said in a statement. "We thank him for his leadership of TMX Group and for delivering a focused and compelling business strategy and growth plan that is driving our continued success."
John McKenzie, TMX's Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed as interim CEO, the company said. Eccleston did not immediately respond to a message sent via LinkedIn.
Michael Bloomberg allegedly knew about Eccleston's behavior
According to witness statements obtained by Business Insider, multiple former employees said that Bloomberg was aware of complaints about Eccleston's alleged behavior while at Bloomberg LP and failed to take any action.
According to one witness statement filed with the New York Division of Human Rights, a Bloomberg employee said that "Mike Bloomberg knew all about what Lou was doing. If five girls want to sleep with Lou, that was O.K."
Mary Ann Olszewski, a former Bloomberg sales staffer who sued the company in 1996, alleging that she had been raped by a senior manager, said "the sexualized attitude comes from the top: Mike Bloomberg and Lou Eccleston," according to a New York Division of Human Rights filing. "We saw Lou drink and proposition girls to come up to his room," she added.
Multiple records obtained by Business Insider, including a sworn statement from former Bloomberg LP employee Rowland Hunt, described an office Christmas party in 1990 at which Eccleston did "body shots" with several female employees under his authority. "'Body shots' consist of embracing and licking salt off the neck, kissing, squeezing, leg up," read Hunt's statement. "It was a ribald scene." The statement went on to describe a "rumor that Lou Eccleston had slept with one of the female employees who got pregnant."
Eccleston's behavior bothered Hunt so much that, according to his statement, he confronted Michael Bloomberg directly. "After the Christmas party experience, I lost respect for management and I was not happy at work. I met with Mike Bloomberg in February 1991 and told him I didn't see eye-to-eye with Lou Eccleston," Hunt's statement said. "Mike insisted I take my concerns directly to Lou. In March, Lou called me to talk in Mike Bloomberg's office. I told him that I had lost respect for him as a professional and as a boss. Lou's response was, 'You're fired.'"
Bloomberg LP and a Bloomberg campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Bloomberg's knowledge of Eccleston's behavior.
Allegations of a toxic workplace at Bloomberg LP
Eccleston's departure comes as Michael Bloomberg faces scrutiny over the allegedly toxic culture he fostered at his namesake company.
Business Insider's November report revealed that nearly 40 employment lawsuits from 65 plaintiffs have been filed against Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg personally in state and federal courts since 1996. The majority of those allege discrimination over gender, race, and disability status, as well as pregnancy discrimination and wage theft. Eight discrimination suits were launched after Bloomberg returned to the company as president and CEO in 2014.
Last month, after ABC News wrote a follow-up story about the Bloomberg lawsuits, presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren called on Bloomberg to release women from any non-disclosure agreements they may have signed with the company. The group Lift Our Voices, formed by three former Fox News employees to end the practice of mandatory non-disclosure agreements to conceal workplace misconduct, also sent letters to all of the presidential campaigns urging them to publicly condemn these types of agreements in the context of sexual misconduct and other workplace issues.
Julie Roginsky, one of the founders of Lift Our Voices, told Business Insider earlier this week that Bloomberg did not respond to the group's letter. On Thursday, ABC News reported that Bloomberg won't release women who sued him from their NDAs. "You can't just walk away from it," Bloomberg said. "They're legal agreements, and for all I know the other side wouldn't want to get out of it."
While NDAs are common in legal disputes, they have faced scrutiny in the wake of the #MeToo movement for being used by powerful men, such as Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, R. Kelly, and Donald Trump, to silence their accusers.
Laurie Evans, a former Bloomberg LP employee who has sued the company for discrimination, asked a New York Supreme Court judge last month to invalidate not just her NDA, but the NDAs of any "similarly situated" Bloomberg LP employees.
"Employees, and particularly female employees who are aware of discrimination in the workplace, if they become aware of it or become a victim of it, they are afraid to complain, to lose their job, to be retaliated against, to not be believed - and therefore they are silenced," Donna Clancy, Evans' attorney, previously told Business Insider. "When they are silenced, it breeds a culture. When you have a culture then and no one complains about it and it can be swept under the rug and managed internally, it gets worse and nothing gets better."
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