A bartender who worked at Soho House\u2019s exclusive Soho Warehouse in downtown Los Angeles is alleging a supervisor at the posh membership club and hotel drugged and raped her, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The woman, who filed as Jane Doe, said in her complaint that she was \u201csubjected to repeated sexual advances and unwelcomed physical touching\u201d by one of her supervisors, Leonard Marcelo Vichique Maya, immediately after she began working as a bartender at Berenjak, the club\u2019s restaurant, in September 2025.<\/p>\n
Doe is suing Vichique Maya, Soho House, Soho House Los Angeles and Soho Warehouse for sexual harassment, retaliation and other claims..<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is as egregious an instance of callous corporate indifference to workplace sexual violence that anyone can experience,\u201d said her attorney Nick Yasman of Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers in a statement. <\/p>\n
Representatives for Soho House and Vichique Maya were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
Doe has further alleged that Vichique Maya made \u201cnumerous comments\u201d about her appearance, propositioned her to be his \u201chook-up buddy\u201d and told her that she \u201cwould be pregnant by now\u201d had they met earlier, all within earshot of her supervisors and colleagues. <\/p>\n
After two weeks on the job, Doe said that she reported Vichique Maya\u2019s conduct to two male supervisors, including Soho House\u2019s floor manager and food and beverage director, states the complaint, but \u201cneither took any semblance of corrective or investigatory action.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the suit, Doe claims that despite \u201chis pattern of harassing behavior and complaints,\u201d the company, did not address his alleged misconduct. \u201d<\/p>\n
She claims his behavior escalated after a \u201cteam-bonding\u201d work event on Sept. 13, where Doe said she became disoriented after drinking with supervisors and co-workers, eventually losing consciousness, and woke up naked in Vichique Maya\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n
\u201cParalyzed and speechless despite her consciousness slowly returning, Plaintiff was condemned to simply watch in horror as [sic] MARCELO repeatedly raped her inanimate body,\u201d states the suit.<\/p>\n
The next day, Doe said that she reported to her floor manager that Vichique Maya had \u201csexually assaulted her.\u201d <\/p>\n
She said her general manager \u201cconfirmed\u201d that he \u201cappeared to be preying\u201d on her during the work event, telling her that \u201cThese things happen between coworkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she proclaimed that she could no longer work with Vichique Maya,\u201d she said the general manager dismissed her concerns telling her: \u201cI have a restaurant to run; I can\u2019t have it blow up on me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite informing three managers that she was \u201craped,\u201d Doe said she was continuously scheduled to work shifts with Vichique Maya during which he repeatedly sexually harassed her.<\/p>\n
In December, Doe filed a complaint with Soho House human resources, and she was assured that an investigation would be opened and \u201cimmediate corrective action\u201d taken.<\/p>\n
However, during the investigation, Doe said that she was placed on indefinite leave while Vichique Maya continued working. A month later, she was informed the company had completed its investigation and found her report of rape \u201cwas uncorroborated\u201d and he \u201cwould not be disciplined.\u201d<\/p>\n
In February, the plaintiff said that she was forced to quit her job.<\/p>\n
One of the first, exclusive members-only social clubs, Soho House debuted in London in 1995 and quickly became the bolt-hole of choice for celebrities and the deep-pocketed. It expanded globally with 48 houses in 19 countries.<\/p>\n
It drew high-profile investors, including Ron Burkle through his investment fund Yucaipa.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the company filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, but it has faced financial challenges. .<\/p>\n
Last year, Soho House went private, selling itself to a group of investors including Apollo Global Management and actor Ashton Kutcher, who also joined its board of directors, at a $2.7-billion valuation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bartender who worked at Soho House\u2019s exclusive Soho Warehouse in downtown Los Angeles is alleging a supervisor…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":622213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[266235,1191,82924,1582,276,638,28126,266237,266236,266238,5022,117460,2961,266234,224,5337,68665,27754,89791,266239],"class_list":["post-622212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bartender","tag-behavior","tag-beverage-director","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-company","tag-complaint","tag-exclusive-soho-warehouse","tag-floor-manager","tag-high-profile-investor","tag-investigation","tag-jane-doe","tag-la","tag-leonard-marcelo-vichique-maya","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-soho-house","tag-suit","tag-supervisor","tag-work-event"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116148154096420783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}