( ESNUG 580 Item 1 ) ---------------------------------------------- [02/16/18]
Subject: 29-year-old woman accuses Lucio Lanza of in-flight #MeToo assault
#METOO COMES TO EDA: In a weird sense of timing, on Valentine's Day morning,
our 73-year-old Lucio Lanza had a civil complaint filed against him in Santa
Clara Superior Court by a 29-year-old Ms. Danae Vachata for alleged "Sexual
Battery CCC 1708.5", alleged "Battery", and alleged "Gender Violence CCC
52.4" on a July 28, 2017 redeye 12:00 midnight flight from San Francisco to
land in Minneapolis at 6:00 AM.
To quote the Santa Clara civil court complaint directly:
"When Lanza learned that Ms. Vachata was co-founder of a technology
start-up company, he preyed on her by threatening that he could use
his position as a powerful venture capitalist to make or break her
company.
"Lanza then groped Ms. Vachata repeatedly, grabbing her arm, crotch,
and breast, attempting to kiss her, and inserting his hand between
her legs. Ms. Vachata was shocked and horrified by Lanza's assault,
which she attempted to stop.
"Immediately afterward, she reported the assault to a nearby passenger,
who was an off-duty pilot.
"She also reported the assault to airline authorities and to law
enforcement.
"On her connecting flight [to Chicago] shortly thereafter, Ms. Vachata
suffered an anxiety attack and lost consciousness on the plane due to
the stress and humiliation of Lanza's actions. Medical personnel
attended to her when her flight landed.
"Through this lawsuit, Ms. Vachata seeks to hold Lanza accountable for
his reprehensible and illegal acts, including seeking damages for her
emotional distress and punitive damages."
- Santa Clara Superior Court case number XXX-XXX-XXX (02/14/2018)
Ms. Vachata is a founder of two start-ups: Mallium and Dynamic Surgical.
The complaint said that Lucio "was close friends with Steve Jobs and talked
at length about his work at Intel and his investments."
The rest of the complaint detailed an inebriated Lucio groping her breast
and crotch. Then how he tried to kiss her, and then he inserted his hands
between her legs while seated next to her on the plane.
"Throughout the assault, Defendant went on about his power in the
industry in which Ms. Vachata works and how he has the capability
to 'make or break' her career."
- Santa Clara Superior Court case number XXX-XXX-XXX (02/14/2018)
THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: Even though this has been covered in USA Today,
Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance -- because they first broke the story,
the SJ Mercury News has been the best source for follow-up questions.
Lucio Lanzia's response to the complaints
"Lanza did not respond to a request for comment after calls were made
to his firm, Lanza techVentures. A spokesperson said: "Lucio has no
idea of what he is being accused of. As far as he remembers, he was
on a plane talking to this woman about her start-up."
Is the FBI investigating this?
"Vachata's attorney David Lowe told this news organization that the
Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident as
the agency has jurisdiction over incidents that occur on flights.
The FBI has not disclosed any details of its investigation to
Lowe, he said."
When did she report it?
"After the plane began its descent, Lanza returned to his seat and
Vachata reported the assault to the off-duty pilot. Before her
connecting flight, she also reported the assault to the airline."
THIS AIN'T NO SMALL PLAYER: In EDA, Lucio Lanza is a big name. He's the
only appointed member of the EDAC/EDA Alliance board. Even Aart de Geus
had to run and get elected to that board -- but not Lucio! Lucio was also
winner of the 2014 Phil Kaufman award. Why? Lucio put in extensive early
years at Intel and from 1989 to 1995 he was in charge of Cadence M&A.
In 2004, Lucio sold Artisan libraries to ARM -- and was a non-executive
director of ARM for a few years afterwards. Jasper, CadMos, Epic, & Forte
were Lucio companies. And he's currently the Chairman of PDF Solutions.
He's a big name in EDA.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
IN UNRELATED NEWS, on that very same morning that this EDA #MeToo lawsuit
news broke, EDAC... make that the "EDA Alliance", put out a media alert
that they're hosting "An Evening with Lucio Lanza and Simon Segars" on
March 14th at 6:30 complete with a dinner buffet and drinks. (Oops!)
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
P.S. I got the unstamped version of the court complaint as the source for
this story. Once I get the official stamped version, it'll be here.
Related Articles:
EDAC/EDA Alliance - An Evening with Lucio Lanza and Simon Segars
SJ Mercury News - VC allegedly sexually assaults female on flight
USA Today - VC brags about Steve Jobs, allegedly assaults woman
Business Insider - 29 y.o. female CEO alleges VC assaulted her
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