A liberal billionaire with a long history of funding left-wing organizations has been accused of repeatedly sexually harassing a former employee, according to a new lawsuit.
Hansjorg Wyss, the 89-year-old Swiss billionaire who has dumped heaps of cash behind liberal organizations in the United States, stands accused of harassing a former employee of a winery in Paso Robles, California, that he owns.
Madison Busby, a former project manager at Halter Ranch Winery, alleges that Wyss groped her, exposed himself to her, and told her stories about his sexual activities, including “his many sexual affairs outside his marriage.” The lawsuit goes on to claim that Wyss, who critics say supplied a left-wing dark money organization with hundreds of millions of dollars and poured another $100 million into an effort to bolster the Democrat Party’s electoral chances, even suggested that Busby and her husband engage in group sex with him and another woman.
Then, Busby says, the leftist billionaire retaliated against her after she rejected his sexual advances. Busby’s lawyer says that Wyss’ harassment of his client caused her emotional distress and financial damage in the form of lost wages.
“Madison has suffered severe emotional distress from the harassment which took place over the course of many years, and also from lost wages and then future damages,” Busby’s attorney John Ly said. “She’s been harmed immensely.” The complaint alleges that Wyss even admitted to Busby in 2022 that “if you ever went after me for sexual harassment, you would win.”
Halter Ranch denies the claims of the lawsuit against its owner. “The allegations in the complaint are not true and we intend to vigorously advance the facts that surround their time at the winery and their departure,” the winery said in response to the complaint.
Busby and her husband Bryce Mullins lived in a house on the Halter Ranch property, the complaint says, adding that Wyss would stay at the house with them when he was in town. But when the couple got married and had a baby, they moved into a smaller house on the property that wasn’t large enough for Wyss to stay with them on his trips. Then Wyss charged the couple $1,650 a month in rent instead of the usual $300 per month, the lawsuit says.
Then when Busby voluntarily resigned and filed her complaint against Wyss, Mullins’ employment at Halter Ranch was allegedly terminated.
Mullins filed a claim of his own, alleging that Wyss failed to honor an agreement that would have provided Mullins with equity in Halter Ranch that eventually would have been worth $30 million.
