New lawsuit alleges sexual abuse at Massage Envy
A new lawsuit has been filed against Massage Envy, this time in Palm Beach County where 11 female customers say they were sexually abused at nine Florida locations.
The lawsuit says it “seeks to stop a statewide epidemic of sexual assaults and explanations by massage therapists” affiliated with the Arizona-based company, which has 1,200 locations nationwide.
The alleged abuse took place at locations from Broward County to Duval County, according to the suit, filed by Palm Beach County law firm Gordon & Doner and Philadelphia law firm Laffey, Bucci & Kent. Most instances involve massage therapists touching women in their private areas without their consent.
In one instance at a location on Federal Highway in Boca Raton, the woman claims that in May 2017, a male therapist asked her to disrobe in front him. Another therapist at the same location placed his genitals “extremely close” to another woman. A therapist is alleged to have digitally penetrated a woman at a Sarasota location, according to the suit.
“Massage Envy not only failed to provide basic safety to clients in a most vulnerable setting, but it systemically and intentionally conspired and concealed the rampant problem of massage therapists at Massage Envy franchise locations sexually assaulting customers throughout the country,” the suit alleges. “Massage Envy’s policy of telling staff to ‘not go to police’ was singularly designed to continue its profit and protect the brand at the expense of the safety of unsuspecting customers.”
The suit follows a similar one filed last week in California, where six women accused the company’s therapists of inappropriate behavior. An investigation by BuzzFeed news last year found more than 180 women have made similar accusations.
The company on Monday didn’t respond to the specific lawsuit, instead releasing a statement about actions it is taking to prevent abuse. These include allowing an outside agency review its policies, improving training, reporting assault allegations to police and using thirdparty investigators to review other allegations.