Sexual Assault Case Against Venture Capitalist Joe Lonsdale Dropped
Former Stanford student Elise Clougherty has dropped a high-profile lawsuit against venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, a former paramour who Clougherty later accused of sexual assault. Lonsdale, who had strongly denied Clougherty’s allegations and filed a countersuit against her, including for defamation, has dropped his lawsuit, too. Clougherty’s suit received national attention in the months after she filed it in January, even garnering a lengthy New York Times Magazine piece. The allegations also resulted in a 10-year ban from Stanford for Lonsdale, who dated Clougherty while her mentor for an undergraduate course called Technology Entrepreneurship, Engineering 145. At the time, the school cited its Title IX policy , which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in educational programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. But Stanford Review reported earlier today a university investigator had considered “new evidence that came to light during litigat...