Billionaire boss’ antics not intended to harm, executive testifies in sex case

Agitated, exasperated, and on his third witness stand in a third civil trial of sexual harassment complaints against his former boss, David Nussbaum told a jury Thursday he just liked to be left out of things.

Nussbaum, a former vice president and senior vice president of billionaire Alki David's Hologram USA Inc., confirmed he was present for an incident of alleged assault that plaintiff Lauren Reeves claims forced her to quit the company. David yelled for Nussbaum to step into his office, Nussbaum recalled, and as he did, he saw David with his pants down and underwear exposed. Reeves was sitting down, facing David, in an act Nussbaum described as "feigned fellatio."

Nussbaum, an employee of David's for 5 1/2 years who said he gave himself the title of investor to seem more impressive to potential investors and Hollywood's elite, previously testified in a sexual harassment case brought against David by former employee Chastity Jones. A jury awarded Jones $11 million in 2018.

Nussbaum also testified in another case brought against David by a former Hologram USA employee, Elizabeth Taylor, in August. But Nussbaum seemed to catch Taylor's counsel Lisa Bloom unawares with an apparent change-of-heart about David's antics.

Bloom noted that while in deposition Nussbaum had been strongly critical of David, describing his antics as "unacceptable" and in violation of workplace sexual harassment policies, his position on the stand seemed comparatively indifferent. Taylor's case ended in a mistrial with a jury deadlocked 8-4 against David after nearly three weeks of trial.

Under questioning from Nathan Goldberg of Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, a partner of Bloom's mother, Gloria Allred, and counsel to Reeves in the ongoing case, Nussbaum's softened attitude toward David appears to have held true. He wrote off the incident in David's office -- and his many seemingly inexplicable and often sexually-charged antics -- as office pranks not intended to harm.

Similar to Taylor's case, Nussbaum appeared to take a harsher position against David in his deposition, recorded in January 2018. Nussbaum explained he was motivated by instincts to defend Reeves, whom he'd brought into the company and seen as a friend, as well as the strength of the narrative of the #MeToo movement.

"It was the height of the movement, and I was aware I was being filmed. I didn't want to look to any future generations like I was making any apologies," Nussbaum said. "I didn't want my kids to one day see it and see me saying, 'Oh, that Alki.'"

While he said he "didn't want to make any excuses for Alki," Nussbaum said he later realized he "hadn't considered Alki's perspective."

Though Nussbaum saw his own workplace demeanor as "serious," and said he often didn't appreciate David's "pranks" -- and as a result, was often made the butt of them -- he didn't think David was being sexual or violent.

Nussbaum searched for words to describe David's "unorthodox boss" style under cross-examination from David's counsel, Venable LLP partner Ellyn S. Garofalo. When Garofalo offered the descriptor "destructive2-year-old," Nussbaum agreed.

Trial continues Friday in the courtroom of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green.