Venture capitalist sued by ex-worker
Michael Rothenberg is accused of sharing a former employee’s Social Security number in a public blog
SAN FRANCISCO» Venture capitalist Michael Rothenberg — who was dubbed Silicon Valley’s “party animal” by Bloomberg in 2015 — and others allegedly shared a former employee’s Social Security number in a public blog, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
The former employee, Katie Fanelli, worked under Rothenberg at his venture capital firm, Rothenberg Ventures. Fanelli sued Rothenberg, his company and Christopher Grayson, a San Francisco-based entrepreneur, in California Superior Court in San Francisco this week, alleging they violated state law by sharing her Social Security number in Grayson’s blog on or around June 12, 2017.
Fanelli alleged that Grayson attached to the blog a link of a document which showed Fanelli’s Social Security number.
At the time of this article’s publication Thursday, no such link was found on the blog.
Grayson, Rothenberg and Rothenberg Ventures did not respond to a request for comment.
But Rothenberg’s attorney, John Potter at QuinnEmanuel, told this news organization, “Mr. Rothenberg denies the allegations and believes he will be fully vindicated in court upon a final resolution of thematter.”
Fanelli’s attorney John Glugoski did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the lawsuit filed this week.
Fanelli filed the lawsuit based on two alleged causes of action: negligence, and violation of a California law prohibiting individuals or entities from publicly posting a Social
Security number.
Fanelli in 2016 sued Rothenberg in a separate lawsuit over unpaid wages and sought class- action status, according to court records. The unpaidwages case is still ongoing in the Superior Court, but was not granted class-action status, according to Fanelli’s law firm, Righetti Glugoski.
In the blog post titled “Virtual Reality Needs Mike Rothenberg,” and dated June 10, 2017, Grayson defended Rothenberg and his company as having “one of the most progressive inclusivity track records not just inVR, but in the whole of the tech industry.” The blog post is the one which Fanelli’s lawsuit alleges contained the link to a document showing her Social Security number.
Rothenberg, a self- described “millennial venture capitalist,” once introduced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to his Stanford fraternity brother and Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, according to Bloomberg in 2015.
Rothenberg was initially known for his lavish parties in the Bay Area, which included renting out AT&T Park in San Francisco for a “Founder Field Day” party, hosting a hot-air balloon tour in Napa and renting out luxury suites at Warriors playoff games, according to Bloomberg.
He was a lightning rod for controversy and intrigue a few years back. By 2016, Rothenberg Ventures apparently ran out of its $50 million operating budget and facedmultiple lawsuits, including Fanelli’s, and a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of the company, according to Wired.
Rothenberg Ventures briefly changed its name to Frontier Technology Venture Capital on September 2016 for six months, according to TechCrunch.