- 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren demanded that billionaire and fellow presidential contender Michael Bloomberg release the women who have accused him of sexist comments from non-disclosure agreements.
- Bloomberg has been under scrutiny following the emerging lawsuits alleging that he created a hostile work environment for women in his company in the 1990s.
- "When women raise concerns like this, we have to pay attention," Warren said at a campaign event in Iowa. "We have to listen to them, and if Michael Bloomberg has made comments like this, then he has to answer for them."
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2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren demanded that billionaire and fellow presidential contender Michael Bloomberg release the women who have accused him of sexist comments from non-disclosure agreements.
Bloomberg has been under scrutiny following the emerging lawsuits alleging that he created a hostile work environment for women in his company in the 1990s, ABC News reported. Bloomberg has denied the allegations since they first came to light in the past month, as a result of a Business Insider investigation.
Bloomberg's company claimed to rarely settle lawsuits, with at least five settlements being made in the last 25 years.
"When women raise concerns like this, we have to pay attention," Warren said at a campaign event in Iowa. "We have to listen to them, and if Michael Bloomberg has made comments like this, then he has to answer for them."
Sekiko Sakai filed a lawsuit against Bloomberg's company in 1997, accusing Bloomberg of "making sexually explicit and derogatory statements to and about women in the workplace," according to the ABC News report.
"If Mr. Bloomberg is running for president, I think the public needs to know what actually happened in this business," Bonnie Josephs, who formerly represented Sakai, said.
However, as part of her settlement Sakai is bound to silence by a non-disclosure agreement.
"I think [nondisclosure agreements] are a way for people to hide bad things they've done, and I think that women should be able to speak," Warren said. "They need to be released from [nondisclosure agreements]."
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