The former chief legal officer for online gambling platform operator GAN has sued his former employer, claiming he was wrongly fired for allegedly complaining about a workplace that was allegedly hostile to a range of minorities, including Black, Asian and Jewish workers, and senior citizens.
"GAN produced a derogatory video, widely circulated among executive leadership, that sought to exploit negative stereotypes regarding
Chinese people, Japanese people, and other people of Asian descent," says the lawsuit brought by plaintiff Michael B. Arouh.
It was filed in Los Angeles federal court.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff objected to the allegedly "derogatory video."
The suit cited another example of GAN leadership allegedly bragging that a GAN director was the “perfect director” because she is a Black woman who satisfies diversity requirements but “she doesn’t look Black.”
The company also made "repeated, unwanted comments about Arouh being old," the suit alleges. "Defendants’ repeatedly used 'baldness' as a proxy for being over 40 years old."
Arouh seeks unspecified monetary damages for breach of contract, wrongful termination and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, plus attorney fees.
He is represented by attorneys Stephen M. Garcia and David M Medby, of Garcia & Artigliere, of Long Beach.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California case number 8:23-cv-02001