Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman running for president as a Republican, is the target of two lawsuits brought by former workers who claim they were coerced into breaking securities laws while they worked for Strive Asset Management, the company he cofounded. These lawsuits were first reported by Bloomberg on Friday morning.
Ramaswamy, Strive Asset Management, and cofounder Anson Frericks are named as defendants in a lawsuit brought by Joyce Rosely on August 8 in New Jersey. Rosely claims she was fired from her position as co-head of institutional sales because she reported an executive’s aggressive sexual advances toward a lower-level employee of the company and violations of the securities laws.
Furthermore, Rosely is said to have expressed concern about Ramaswamy’s social media posts, which in her eyes amounted to unauthorized securities sales.
Another case was brought in June by John Phillips, who claimed he was misled into leaving his job at JPMorgan to work for Strive Asset Management on the grounds that the company had strong finance and that Ramaswamy, who later left to run for president, was dedicated to the business.
Phillips claimed that Ramaswamy misrepresented Strive Asset Management’s financial situation to staff members and investors, and that the business pressured him to break securities laws just as it allegedly did with Rosely.
Both employees were fired in March, with Rosely alleging age discrimination on top of being fired in retaliation for her complaints of misconduct. Rosely was reportedly informed she was fired as part of a company reorganization that sought to remove employees over the age of 40. Phillips claimed he was fired without cause.
Strive’s representative stated that the company “intends to vigorously defend itself,” but otherwise chose not to comment on the legal dispute.
