Victoria's Secret parent will spend $90 million on anti-sexual harassment and diversity plans, after shareholders said former leaders created a 'culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment'
- L Brands said it will spend $90 million on anti-sexual harassment and inclusion measures.
- This is in response to shareholder lawsuits filed against former execs.
- These suits allege that leaders Les Wexner and Ed Razek "enabled L Brands to develop a hostile abusive environment."
Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands said Friday it will spend $90 million beefing up the process to report and investigate sexual harassment cases and improve diversity and inclusion governance.
The news comes after shareholders sued longtime execs over its alleged "entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying, and harassment."
Two shareholders filed lawsuits after a New York Times investigation in 2020 found a culture "of misogyny, bullying, and harassment" at the brand, which former longtime L Brands marketing chief Ed Razek and former CEO Les Wexner were accused of creating.
L Brands was named as a nominal defendant in these lawsuits.
In one lawsuit filed in June 2020, shareholder Milton Rudi sued Wexner and Razek, alleging that they had "allowed and enabled L Brands to develop a hostile abusive environment rife with sexual harassment" which ultimately, "irreparably harmed" the company.
In another suit, filed in a Delaware court in January this year, shareholder Nancy Lambrecht sued Wexner, Razek, and other senior-level employees for Victoria's Secret's "entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying, and harassment, as well as ties to Jeffrey Epstein and other egregious mismanagement."
Insider reached out to the plaintiff's lawyers but did not immediately hear back.
L Brands did not confirm whether the case against Wexner, Razek, and other execs had been settled. However, it said that its move to strengthen corporate governance is the "full and final resolution" from the company's perspective.
"This global resolution, with its commitment to industry-leading governance policies, is an overwhelmingly positive result for the Company and its stockholders," Sarah Nash, chair of the board, said Friday.
L Brands has committed to spending $45 million over five years at each Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works to fund its governance policies. L Brands will be split in two next month; Victoria's Secret will become its own public company.