Citigroup denies a former executive's allegations that the company discriminated against her because of her race and gender, and specifically that wealth head Andy Sieg sexually harassed her.
Carreon, employed to lead a digital transformation at Citi, alleged she was bullied, sidelined and humiliated by male leaders who were protected by a "weaponized" human resources department, in keeping with the company's "long history of hostility toward women."
She contends, among other allegations, that she was debased by gossip about her professional relationship with Sieg, who had championed her work but failed to refute the sexual innuendo, her lawsuit against Citi states. The firm's complaint disputes the allegations and contends she had agreed to take any employment disputes to binding arbitration.
Carreon cites the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act as allowing her to "raise her claims in the sunlight and have them fairly adjudicated and redressed through the court system," according to her suit.
"Since Andy Sieg's arrival at Citi in September 2023 as the Head of its Wealth business, he has empowered and championed both female and male leaders, including (Carreon), to effectuate meaningful change," Citi states in its complaint.
Carreon "repeatedly emailed Citi Human Resources and Mr. Sieg praising his leadership, including after she voluntarily resigned from Citi to pursue a new venture, stating, among other things, 'thank you for recognizing my talent, for putting me in the room, and for treating me with respect. You are truly one of the most exceptional people & leaders I've ever met. Your integrity is irreproachable,'" Citi contends.
Now, she "falsely claims that Citi discriminated against her because of her race and gender. Even worse, contrary to her own contemporaneous statements and despite having never raised such concerns during her employment, to avoid her agreement to arbitrate all employment-related claims — under a law that prohibits the arbitration of sexual harassment claims — (Carreon) has fabricated a legally infirm and patently false theory that Mr. Sieg sexually harassed her," the firm's complaint states.
"Nothing could be farther from the truth; there is absolutely no factual or legal basis for any such allegation against Mr. Sieg," the company contends, saying Carreon's "own words confirm unequivocally that she was never sexually harassed by Mr. Sieg. She cannot properly or plausibly plead such a claim."
Among other allegations, Citi alleges its employee relations department interviewed her in May 2024, "not because anyone insinuated she had a romantic relationship with Mr. Sieg, but because her female and male colleagues raised complaints about her behavior, including that she implied to other employees that she was very close to Mr. Sieg, such that she could have them terminated and felt comfortable treating the direct reports of Mr. Sieg poorly."
Carreon left Citi in June 2024, in what her complaint calls a constructive discharge.
Citi's complaint notes that in January 2024, she was promoted to wealth platforms and experiences head over male and female leaders, with support from her supervisor and Sieg.
Bloomberg reported in August that Citigroup hired an outside law firm to investigate complaints that Sieg allegedly engaged in intimidating and disparaging behavior toward staff — including reducing a male managing director to tears.
Citi supported Sieg following the probe, with the wealth chief remaining in his position and Jane Fraser telling Bloomberg TV she was "very comfortable with the way we came out." The Financial Times reported in October that investigators hadn't interviewed some women who had made complaints.
Carreon's lawyer, Linda Friedman, told ThinkAdvisor in an email Tuesday that Citi's complaint "seeks to force Ms. Carreon to arbitrate her claims in Texas. In doing so, Citi relies on its longstanding practice of forcing victims of discrimination to give up their rights and file their cases in private in arbitration. Ms. Carreon relies on a law passed in the wake of the me too movement that allows the filing of claims such as hers in Court."
"Notwithstanding Citi's attempts to further bully her to arbitration and (smear) Ms. Carreon, she will continue to pursue justice in the New York Court."
Rather than filing an answer to the New York complaint, "Citi falsely alleged that Ms. Carreon worked in Texas and filed the action in Texas when Citi is fully aware that Ms. Carreon worked in New York, supervised employees in New York and the allegations in her Complaint arose in New York," Friedman said. "Ms. Carreon is a strong woman. She intends to continue her pursuit for justice. In time, her story will be told."
Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
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