An Amazon employee, Laura Danbom, has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming she was raped by a senior executive during a business trip to New York City and that the company later instructed her not to discuss the incident at work.
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Danbom, who works at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters as a marketing and operations manager for Amazon Web Services, filed the lawsuit this week.
She accused the e-commerce giant of creating a hostile work environment and violating Washington State’s Silenced No More Act, which protects people who speak out about workplace misconduct from retaliation.
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According to the complaint filed in a Seattle state court, the incident happened on October 27, 2023, when Danbom travelled to New York with colleagues, including Michelangelo Simonte, an advertising executive based in Madrid who continues to work for Amazon.
That evening, the group attended an Amazon-hosted event with an open bar before continuing to karaoke bars, with the expenses reportedly covered by the company.
The complaint states that Danbom and Simonte flirted, joked and got along during the evening. At the end of the night, Simonte kissed her and persuaded her to allow him to accompany her to her hotel room at the Hyatt Place in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood.
However, Danbom’s lawsuit claims that the encounter took a different turn once they were inside the room.
“In Laura’s hotel room, during the early morning hours, Simonte raped her,” the complaint states. “Before the rape started, she said no. During the rape, Laura asked him: ‘you realize this is,’ and Simonte finished her sentence saying ‘rape? Yes.’ He ignored her protests. He raped her.”
The following day, Danbom reported the incident to the New York Police Department, according to the complaint. She reportedly handed officers a condom Simonte had left behind and underwent a rape examination.
The lawsuit further states that a detective monitored a phone conversation between Danbom and Simonte in the hope of obtaining information about the incident. During the call, Simonte reportedly said he was “200% sure” they had never had sexual intercourse.
However, according to the complaint, he later told police during an interview that he was too intoxicated to remember what happened.
Simonte did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through LinkedIn.
Danbom’s lawyer, Jay Free, said the NYPD did not refer the case to prosecutors after investigators concluded they had exhausted their investigative options. The lawsuit also claims that police failed to interview people Danbom said she had spoken to immediately after the incident, including another Amazon employee.
Two days after the incident, Danbom reported it to Amazon’s human resources department. She also told friends and her therapist about what she said had happened.
Amazon subsequently launched an internal investigation and placed Simonte on a leave of absence lasting several months, according to Danbom. However, the company ultimately concluded that he had not violated its policies.
The lawsuit states that Amazon described Danbom’s account as “unfounded due to lack of evidence” and treated the matter as a “he said, she said” situation.
Danbom claims the company’s investigation was incomplete because investigators did not speak with witnesses who could support her account or collect other available evidence.
She also accused Amazon of asking questions that made her feel responsible for preventing the incident, including challenging her over whether she had shouted “no.”