TCW Group Inc. said a former portfolio manager was properly discharged for cause last year, according to a court document filed in response to a $30 million wrongful termination suit.
Sara Tirschwell’s dismissal on Dec. 14 followed a history of compliance violations and warnings that those infractions could result in her immediate termination, TCW said. She also received training related to the violations, according to the filing Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court.
Tirschwell claimed last month that she was dismissed as managing director of the firm’s Distressed Strategy Group after she filed a complaint about Jess Ravich, her group’s male managing director. Ravich was accused of making unwanted sexual advances during breakfast meetings over 10 months -- usually while clothed in a white terry bathrobe -- and repeatedly coercing Tirschwell into sex, implying she’d be starved of resources and access to investors if she rejected him.
The Los Angeles-based money manager denied the allegations both in January, when the suit was filed, and again in Tuesday’s response.
TCW’s response to Tirschwell’s suit shows “why women in this industry are afraid to come forward,” a representative for Tirschwell said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “They know that what awaits them will be a smear campaign intended to silence them and destroy their careers. Ms. Tirschwell looks forward to presenting her case to a jury.”
TCW said that Ravich informed the firm of his prior romantic relationship with Tirschwell before she was hired.
The case is Tirschwell v. TCW Group, 150777/2018, New York State Supreme Court, New York County.\
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.