David Lippman and another top TCW [profile] executive are pushing back against an ex-TCW PM's $30-million sexual harassment lawsuit.

On January 25 Sara Tirschwell (former managing director of TCW's distressed strategy group and ex-PM of the TCW Distressed Fund) sued TCW, Lippman (TCW's president and CEO), and Jess Ravich (group managing director, TCW's head of alternative products, and Tirschwell's former boss and ex-boyfriend). Tirschwell accuses Ravich of pressuring her into sex as a "quid pro quo" for TCW's support and of withdrawing that support when she broke things off by no longer attending breakfast meetings at Ravich's aparment. She also claims that TCW manufactured a pretext to fire her when she complained to HR about Ravich. The case is Sara Tirschwell v. TCW Group Inc. Et Al, 150777-2018 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the County of New York.

Yesterday Lippman and TCW (in one filing) and Ravich (in another filing) formally responded to Tirschwell's lawsuit. Ravich claims that, while he and Tirschwell dated before she joined TCW, they never had sex while she was affiliated with TCW, and he accuses Tirschwell of concocting "a story that is false". Elaborating on TCW's initial denials in the press last month, Ravich and the company both claim: that he was not involved in the decision to fire Tirschwell; that Tirschwell was fired for "repeat violation of company compliance policies and procedures"; and that Tirschwell raised her initial sexual harassment complaint within the company after Ravich gave her advance warning that her contract would not be renewed in the coming months.

Bloomberg and Reuters both covered the responses from TCW, Lippman, and Ravich. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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