Bloomberg saleswoman sues over rape, rampant drug culture
A former Bloomberg LP sales executive drugged and raped a saleswoman on his staff twice over a number of weeks, an explosive lawsuit claims.
The attacks by Nick Ferris, a former global business development head at the company, happened after work in February and March 2013 at his Manhattan apartment, the lawsuit claims.
The first attack happened after Ferris and his 22-year-old subordinate enjoyed drinks at a business dinner and then downed vodka and smoked pot at his apartment, the suit alleges.
The woman, whose identity is not disclosed in the suit, said she went to sleep in a guest bedroom after partying with Ferris and his girlfriend — only to be awakened in the middle of the night by the sexual attack, according to the suit, filed in state court in the Bronx.
Ferris has not been charged with any crime. The civil suit claims civil rights violations, a hostile work environment and sexual discrimination.
The woman, identified only as Margaret Doe, claims Ferris got her addicted to powerful narcotics after she started working at Bloomberg in September 2012 — which he withheld after the first attack until she agreed to go again to his apartment, it is alleged.
On the second visit to the apartment — after Ferris gave her narcotics while at work — he again raped her, the lawsuit claims.
The suit — which also names Bloomberg LP and its owner, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as defendants — also claims Ferris sexually harassed the woman, who sold subscriptions to the company’s newsletters, and others. The suit seeks $20 million in damages.
In one such incident after the first attack, Ferris scheduled a meeting with the woman at a conference room at the company’s Manhattan headquarters, it is alleged.
At the meeting, Ferris said he wanted to continue to have unprotected sex with her — and asked her “to use a condom with any boyfriend she had because he was having unprotected sex” with his girlfriend.
The woman claims that requests sent to human resources to move her desk were ignored, and she was later reprimanded during an investigation into another male Bloomberg employee who had harassed her.
The suit, which was filed in December but hasn’t been reported on until now, alleges what it calls “The Bloomberg Drug Culture,” in which Ferris “manipulated” the woman, for “personal and professional purposes,” into taking drugs in order to reach sales goals.
Ferris would hide drugs throughout the Bloomberg office in a mailbox, a Tic Tac container and a book, it is alleged.
Once, Ferris sent drugs disguised as a Christmas present to the woman at her parents’ Connecticut home, the suit claims.
Ferris improper behavior started during the first few months she was employed at Bloomberg, the suit alleges.
In that time, Ferris pushed the woman to attend boozy one-on-one work meals at Le Cirque — where he would remind her that her employment status was in his hands, it is alleged.
During these meals, where the two would dine alone, Ferris would improperly submit the check as a business expense, saying he was meeting with clients, according to the suit.
Ferris wasn’t the only person to harass the woman, it is alleged. At a 2012 Christmas party at the home of Executive Editor Ted Merz, a second editor, Joe Brusuelas, made “lewd comments” and propositioned her to leave in a “private car,” according to the suit.
[This reporter worked at Bloomberg under Merz from 2012 to 2014 and was present at the above-mentioned Christmas party. The reporter left early and didn’t witness any of the behavior described in the complaint.]
Brusuelas, who’s no longer at Bloomberg, declined to comment.
In February 2013, after two months of escalating approaches, Ferris took the woman out for drinks, where the two drank alcohol and he pushed her to take “pain pills,” according to the suit.
It was after this business meal that the first rape took place, it is alleged.
After going to the guest room to sleep, the woman “awoke to find Ferris standing over her,” the suit says. The woman “was lying half-off the side of the bed with Ferris holding her legs up towards him,” court paper state.
After that, she “recalls looking down and seeing the dress she wore to work that day flipped up, only half covering her, and her underwear and tights removed.”
The suit doesn’t make it clear if the girlfriend knew about the alleged rape. The girlfriend, reached on her cell phone on Friday, declined to comment.
The suit goes on to claim other bizarre and inappropriate actions from the former Bloomberg manager.
At one point, he invited himself through a co-worker to the 50th birthday party of the woman’s mother, the suit alleges. At the party in the family home, Ferris took pictures of the woman’s family photographs and later Photoshopped a childhood photo of himself into the picture, it is alleged.
Ferris later sent the Photoshopped photo to the woman, the suit alleges.
In June 2013, months after the alleged rapes, Ferris underwent circumcision surgery, then “showed her graphic photos of his partially exposed penis wrapped in bandages, and remarked how his circumcision made him extra sensitive to ‘good’ vaginas,” the suit claims.
The woman was also peppered for more than a year with inappropriate e-mails, it is alleged.
In one, he wrote: “You are beautiful, you are stunning. You look incredible naked.”
The woman complained to HR but claims that requests to move her desk were ignored, it is alleged. In fact, the suit claims, she was later reprimanded by Merz during an investigation into another male Bloomberg employee who had harassed her.
Merz, who was in Nicaragua when reached on his cell phone on Friday, said, “I don’t have a comment and I don’t know anything about it,” before hanging up on a Post reporter.
The woman, who currently lives in The Bronx, said that she experienced anxiety, depression, and ulcers from the stress of working at the company, and later filed for disability to attend an inpatient rehab in Philadelphia for people with eating disorders.
Ferris was fired from Bloomberg in December 2015 after a review of thousands of e-mails and interviews with several coworkers confirmed that he had an inappropriate relationship with the woman, a source said.
In court papers, Bloomberg LP denies that there is a Bloomberg drug culture — and all other allegations.
A lawyer for Ferris, who left Bloomberg in December 2015, says the allegations are a lie.
“We deny the allegations of the complaint, and we will be vindicated in court,” Paul Shoemaker, Ferris’ lawyer, told The Post.
Donna Clancy, a lawyer for the woman, declined to comment beyond the suit.
Ferris joined a Texas financial education company, Simpler Trading, last September as chief operating officer, according to a company announcement at the time.
A receptionist at the company told The Post on Friday that he no longer worked there.
(Dugan worked for Bloomberg from 2012-2014, including for some of the editors named in the suit but has no knowledge of any of the allegations.)