Things Just Got Worse for Former Gravity CEO

A day after Dan Price resigned, a 'NYT' report details allegations of predatory behavior, rape
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2022 9:17 AM CDT
Things Just Got Worse for Former Gravity CEO
Former Seattle Sounders players Steve Zakuani, center, and James Riley, right, pose for a photo with then-Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price on July 31, 2016, in Seattle.   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

If Dan Price's resignation Wednesday as CEO of Gravity Payments so he could fight "false accusations" seemed abrupt, what Axios is calling a "bombshell report" from the New York Times the next day fills in some of the blanks. It's authored by Karen Weise, who has long covered Price, including in a 2015 Bloomberg Businessweek report in which she noted he had "something to hide." Her Times piece recirculates allegations by Price's ex-wife that he physically abused her and features new accusations of predatory behavior, sexual misconduct, and rape against Price. Those allegations hail from "more than a dozen" women, many of whom have since connected with each other to try and expose Price's alleged behavior.

One woman, who says Price started messaging her in late 2020 after she liked one of his Instagram posts, says on their third date Price tried to make her watch porn, then pressured her into sex and recorded them doing so, without her consent. Another accuser, who also says she connected with Price on Instagram, says he tried to kiss her against her will and grabbed her throat in his Tesla after a dinner in January; he faces an October trial in that case. Weise also delves into the allegations of model Kacie Margis, who says that on a trip to Palm Springs, Calif., with Price in April 2021, he raped her while she was sleeping, after she'd rebuffed his attempts to initiate sex and taken a cannabis edible.

In her piece, Weise paints Price as leveraging social media to not only contact women (Margis included), but also to bury the original domestic violence allegations against him. His posts in recent years promoted his seemingly progressive politics and social justice advocacy and earned thousands of likes and retweets. In Weise's telling, they also drew women into his sphere who were impressed with his views. The kicker: Per Weise, Price's posts were largely penned by a ghostwriter, an ex-reporter from the Seattle Times who himself had to resign after sending sexually explicit messages to a fellow reporter. In a statement to the NYT, Price says he "never physically or sexually abused anyone" and calls other accusations in Weise's article "simply false." (Read the full article here.)

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