Jay Pureblood

@BillAckman @X When they see that you are going to aggressively fight the claims and not quickly agreed to a settlement, both the ex-employee and her attorney will likely lose their enthusiasm for this case.

I am reaching out to the @X community for advice with the likely risk of sharing TMI. I have been sufficiently upset about the whole matter that I have lost sleep thinking about it and I am hoping that this post will enable me to get this matter off my chest. By way of background, I started a family office called TABLE about 15 years ago and hired a friend who had previously managed a family office, and years earlier, had been my personal accountant. She is someone that I trusted implicitly and consider to be a good person. The office started small, but over the last decade, the number of personnel and the cost of the office grew massively. The growth was entirely on the operational side as the investment team has remained tiny. While my investment portfolio grew substantially, the investments I had made were almost entirely passive and TABLE simply needed to account for them and meet capital calls as they came in. While TABLE purchased additional software and other systems that were supposed to improve productivity, the team kept increasing in size at a rapid rate, and the expenses continued to grow even faster. While I would periodically question the growing expenses and high staff turnover, I stayed uninvolved with the office other than a once-a-year meeting when I briefly reviewed the operations and the financials and determined bonus compensation for the President and the CFO. I spent no time with any of the other employees or the operations. The whole idea behind TABLE was that it would handle everything other than my day job so that I would have more time for my job and my family. Over the last six years, expenses ballooned even further, employee turnover accelerated, and I became concerned that all was not well at TABLE. It was time for me to take a look at what was going on. Nearly four years ago, I recruited my nephew who had recently graduated from Harvard and put him to work at Bremont, a British watchmaker, one of my only active personal investments to figure out the issues at the company and ultimately assist in executing a turnaround. He did a superb job. When he returned from the UK late last year after a few years at Bremont, I asked him to help me figure out what was going on with TABLE. When I explained to TABLE’s president what he would be doing, she became incredibly defensive, which naturally made me more concerned. My nephew went to work by first meeting with each employee to understand their roles at the company and to learn from them what ideas they had on how things could be improved. He got an earful. Our first step in helping to turn around TABLE was a reduction in force including the president and about a third of the team, retaining excellent talent that had been desperate for new leadership. Now here is where I need your advice. All but one of the employees who were terminated acted professionally and were gracious on the way out (excluding the president who had a notice period in her contract, is currently still being paid, and with whom I have not yet had a discussion). The highest compensated terminated employee other than the president, an in-house lawyer (let’s call her Ronda), told us that three months of severance was not enough and demanded two years’ severance despite having worked at the company for only two and one half years. When I learned of Ronda's request for severance, I offered to speak with her to understand what she was thinking, but she refused to do so. A few days ago, we received a threatening letter from a Silicon Valley law firm. In the letter, Ronda’s counsel suggests that her termination is part of longstanding issues of ‘harassment and gender discrimination’ – an interesting claim in light of the fact that Ronda was in charge of workplace compliance – and that her termination was due to: “unlawful, retaliatory, and harmful conduct directed towards her. Both [Ronda] and I [Ronda’s lawyer] have spoken with you about [Ronda’s] view of what a reasonable resolution would include given the circumstances. Thus far, TABLE has refused to provide any substantive response. This letter provides the last opportunity to reach a satisfactory agreement. If we cannot do so, [Ronda] will seek all appropriate relief in a court of competent jurisdiction.” The letter goes on to explain the basis for the “unsafe work environment” claim at TABLE: “In early 2026, Pershing Square’s founder Bill Ackman installed his nephew in an unidentified role at TABLE, Ackman’s family office. [His nephew]—whose only work experience had been for TABLE where he was seconded abroad for the last four years to a UK watch company held by Ackman—began appearing at TABLE’s offices and conducting interviews of employees without a clear explanation of his role or the purposes of these interviews. During this period, he made a series of inappropriate and genderbased [sic] comments to multiple employees that created an unsafe work environment. Among other things, [his nephew] made remarks about female employees’ ages (“Tell me you are nowhere near 40”), physical appearance (“Your body does not look like you have kids”), as well as intrusive questions about family planning and sexual orientation (“Who carried your son? Who will carry your next child?”). These incidents were reported to senior leadership at TABLE and Pershing Square. Rather than being addressed appropriately, the response from senior management reflected, at best, willful blindness to the inappropriateness of [his nephew]’s remarks and, at worst, tacit endorsement.” The above allegations about my nephew had previously been brought to my attention by TABLE’s president when they occurred. When I learned of them, I told the president that I would speak to him directly and encouraged her to arrange for him to get workplace sensitivity training. The president assured me that she would do so. When I spoke to my nephew, he explained what he actually had said and how his actual remarks had been received, not at all as alleged in the legal letter from Ronda’s counsel. I have also spoken to others at the lunch table who confirmed his description of the facts. In any case, he meant no harm, was simply trying to build rapport with other employees, and no one, as far as I understand, was offended. Ironically, Ronda claims in her legal letter that TABLE didn’t take HR compliance seriously, yet Ronda was in charge of HR compliance at TABLE and the person who gave my nephew his workplace sensitivity training after the alleged incidents. In any case, Ronda, as head of compliance, should have kept a record or raised an alarm if indeed there was pervasive harassment or other such problems at the company, and there is no evidence whatsoever that this is true. So why does Ronda believe she can get me to pay her nearly $2 million, i.e., two years of severance, nearly one year of severance for each of her years at the company? Well, here is where some more background would be helpful. Over the last two months, I have been consumed with a major family medical issue – one of my older daughters had a massive brain hemorrhage on February 5th and has since been making progress on her recovery – and I am in the midst of a major transaction for my company which I am executing from a hospital room office next to her . While the latter business matter is publicly known, the details of my daughter’s situation are only known to Ronda because of her role at our family office. Now, let’s get back to the subject at hand. Unfortunately, while New York and many other states have employment-at-will, there has emerged an industry of lawyers who make a living from bringing fake gender, race, LGBTQ and other discrimination employment claims in order to extract larger severance payments for terminated employees, and it needs to stop. The fake claim system succeeds because it costs little to have a lawyer send a threatening letter and nearly all of the lawyers in this field work on contingency so there is no or minimal cash cost to bring a claim. And inevitably, nearly 100% of these claims are settled because the public relations and legal costs of defending them exceed the dollar cost of the settlement. The claims are nearly always settled with a confidentiality agreement where the employee who asserts the fake claims remains anonymous and as a result, there is no reputational cost to bringing false claims. The consequences of this sleazy system (let’s call it ‘the System’) are the increased costs of doing business which is a tax on the economy and society. There are other more serious problems due to the System. Unfortunately, the existence of an industry of plaintiff firms and terminated employees willing to make these claims makes it riskier for companies to hire employees from a protected class, i.e., LGBTQ, seniors, women, people of color etc. because it is that much more reputationally damaging and expensive to be accused of racism, sexism, and/or intolerance for sexual diversity than for firing a white male as juries generally have less sympathy for white males. The System therefore increases the risk of discrimination rather than reducing it, and the people bringing these fake claims are thereby causing enormous harm to the other members of these protected classes. So what happened here? Ronda was vastly overpaid and overqualified for the job that she did at TABLE. She was paid $1.05 million plus benefits last year for her work which was largely comprised of filling out subscription agreements and overseeing an outside law firm on closing passive investments in funds and in private and venture stage companies, some compliance work, and managing the office move from one office to another. She had a very good gig as she was highly paid, only had to go into the office three days a week, and could work from anywhere during the summer. Once my nephew showed up and started to investigate what was going on, she likely concluded that there was a reasonable possibility she would be terminated, as her job was in the too-easy-and-to-good-to-be-true category. The problem was that she was not in a protected class due to her race, age or sexual identity so she had to construct the basis for a claim. While she is female and could in theory bring a gender-based discrimination claim, she reported to the president who is female and to whom she is very close, which makes it difficult for her to bring a harassment claim against her former boss. When my nephew complimented a TABLE employee at lunch about how young she looked – in response to saying she was going to her 40-year-old sister’s birthday party, he said ‘she must be your older sister’ – Ronda immediately reported it to our external HR lawyer. She thereby began building her case. The other problem for Ronda bringing a claim is that she was terminated alongside 30% of other TABLE employees as part of a restructuring so it is very difficult for her to say that she was targeted in her termination or was retaliated against. TABLE is now hiring an external fractional general counsel as that is all the company needs to process the relatively limited amount of legal work we do internally. In short, Ronda was eminently qualified and capable and did her job. She was just too much horsepower for what is largely an administrative legal role so she had to come up with something else to bring a claim. Now Ronda knew I was a good target and it was a good time to bring a claim against me. She also knew that I was under a lot of pressure because on March 4th when Ronda was terminated, my daughter had not yet emerged from consciousness, she was not yet breathing on her own, and my daughter and we were fighting for her life. I was and remain deeply engaged in her recovery while at the same time I was working on finishing the closing for the private placement round for my upcoming IPO. Ronda also knew that publicity about supposed gender discrimination and a “hostile and unsafe work environment” are not things that a CEO of a company about to go public wants to have released into the media. And she may have thought that the nearly $2 million she was asking for would be considered small in the context of the reputational damage a lawsuit could cause, regardless of the fact that two years of severance was an absurd amount for an employee who had only worked at TABLE for 30 months. She also likely considered that I wouldn’t want to embarrass my nephew by dragging him into the klieg lights when her claims emerged publicly. So, in summary, game theory would say that I would certainly settle this case, for why would I risk negative publicity at a time when I was preparing our company to go public and also risk embarrassing my nephew. Notably, she hired a Silicon Valley law firm, rather than a typical NY employment firm. This struck me as interesting as her husband works for one of the most prominent Silicon Valley venture firms whose CEO, I am sure, has no tolerance for these kinds of fake claims that sadly many venture-backed companies also have to deal with. I mention this as I suspect her husband likely has been working with her on the strategy for squeezing me as, in addition to being a computer scientist, he is a game theorist. My only advice for him is to understand more about your opponent before you launch your first move. All of the above said, gender, race, LGBTQ and other such discrimination is a real thing. Many people have been harmed and deserve compensation for this discrimination, and these companies and individuals should be punished for engaging in such behavior. Which brings me to the advice I am seeking from the X community. I am not planning to follow the typical path and settle this ‘claim.’ Rather, I am going to fight this nonsense to the end of the earth in the hope that it inspires other CEOs to do the same so we shut down this despicable behavior that is a large tax on society, employment, and the economy and contributes to workplace discrimination rather than reducing it. Do you agree or disagree that this is the right approach?

@sizzle_sarah Or vice versa.

Remove the one on the left. Deport the one on the right.

@FBIDirectorKash @CardioFixer Have you arrested any corrupt DC Democrats yet?? No? Epic fail.

67,000 arrests. Violent crime arrests up 100%+. 1,800 gangs dismantled. Murder and robbery rates dropping to historic lows. We put 1,000 agents back in the field, backed our cops, and went to work — because Donald Trump lets good cops be cops. Criminals are on notice. We’re not slowing down.

@redshaw_cl92112 @MAGAVoice You could say the exact same thing about every other country in the world. Yet you only say that about Russia. Some might call that the result of brainwashing.

@Jayinvgenius @MAGAVoice Russia isn’t bad, but their government is corrupt and dangerous. You would have to be brainwashed to think otherwise.

BREAKING 🚨 Russia just offered President Trump help if needed to resolve the IRAN War since NATO isn’t doing anything HOLY SH*T

@GOP_is_Gutless Hmmmm. I don’t care about Alec Baldwin or Caitlin Clark.

🚨 Hollywood in Turmoil Alec Baldwin is facing a career meltdown after publicly mocking WNBA star Caitlin Clark during a live panel. In front of a stunned audience, Baldwin repeatedly insulted her — even calling her “stupid” on air. The backlash was immediate and brutal: five major sponsors dropped him, costing an estimated $86 million in lost deals. Caitlin Clark responded with a classy but powerful statement that’s now echoing across sports and entertainment. Baldwin now risks a potential $50 million defamation lawsuit on top of the reputational damage. One of the biggest celebrity fallout stories in years. What’s your take — deserved consequences or overreaction? 👀🏀 #AlecBaldwin #CaitlinClark #HollywoodBacklash #WNBA #CancelCulture #SponsorDrop

@BillAckman @SarahisCensored If we had a functioning DOJ, Metcalf’s murderer would’ve been arrested on federal murder charges with a hate crime enhancement.

How is this possible?

@DC_Draino Can you imagine the terrible things that Tillis has done on video? It must be really bad, because he is forced to say the most ridiculous things.

Thunb Tillis may be the most corrupt RINO we have in the Senate. What a Deep State puppet.

@RealJessica Classic line!! Trump should use it at the next state of the union.

Argentina President Javier Milei: "The left can't applaud me because their hands are in other people's pockets."

@DrInsensitive True. Some deep state spook shows them a picture of their kids at school and says we can snatch them at any time. From that point forward, the women do whatever they are instructed to do. See Amy Clown Barrett, for example.

When you consider Harmeet Dhillon, think about Giorgia Meloni. Meloni is Italy's first female Prime Minister, and was elected as a hard-line anti-immigration right winger. In 2022, the year before she took office, 105k boat migrants landed in Italy. The next year, her first full year in office, that number rose 50% to 156k. But for the next 2 years, she lowered that number to 66k per year. So over three years, she reduced boat migration by a net 24k, relative to the 105k/yr pace before she took office. Then she approved 500k new non-EU immigrant work visas, saying Italy needed them. Women are not right wingers. They just don't have it in them, no matter what they say.

@joethomas238 @Sassafrass_84 Except that Trump told her to arrest people and she never did.

@Sassafrass_84 Bondi did everything Trump told her to do, and not to do. Not sure what you think will be different with the next person.

I had a conversation with somebody last night, and we were talking about the Attorney General position. I wanted somebody who would be a pit bull. Get the job done. Then, the reality came in that the Senate had to confirm them. The Senate isn't going to confirm somebody that would be allowed to prosecute members of Congress with misconduct or alleged crimes. It was rough getting Kash confirmed. The reality just sank in. Our government got too big for its britches.

@Sassafrass_84 You’re right, but there’s a simple solution to this problem. Just appoint the pitbull to the most senior position in the DOJ that doesn’t require confirmation. Make it clear that he, in fact, is in charge. Then get a PR/media-focused AG to be the nominal head of the DOJ.

@BrandonStraka Good!! Get the US out of the UN and kick the UN out of the US!!

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns the organization faces collapse without continued U.S. funding, which contributes roughly $2.2 billion to its core budget. "the United Nations is on the brink of total collapse"

100% accurate. 👇

@JoshHall2024 These two brothers are traitors to the United States. And it’s been obvious for several years.

🚨BREAKING:🚨 Treasonist whistleblower brothers Alexander and Eugene Vindman, the former of whom played a central role in the first impeachment of President Trump and the latter of whom is a sitting Democrat US Congressman, are reportedly ON THE VERGE OF BEING FEDERALLY INDICTED in Virginia under THE ESPIONAGE ACT for their alleged leaking of US MILITARY SECRETS AND CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS to the Ukrainian government as well as a MASSIVE MONEY LAUNDERING KICKBACKS SCHEME that the brothers, who are Ukrainian born, orchestrated to line their pockets with MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in US taxpayer funding that was allocated as aid for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. In other words, the Vindman brothers have betrayed The United States on behalf of their home country of Ukraine which they are working for and getting FILTHY RICH off of. LOCK THESE TRAITOROUS SLIMEBALLS UP AND THEN SEND THEM BACK TO UKRAINE WHERE THEY BELONG because as Alexander Vindman infamously said in his epic failure of a book, HERE RIGHT MATTERS. What do you think fellow patriots? 📢🚨🇺🇸

@JoshHall2024 Alina is great, but couldn’t be confirmed. Trump should name her to the highest position in the DOJ that doesn’t require confirmation.

🚨 Breaking: 🚨President Trump has officially FIRED Pam Bondi and is “seriously considering,” replacing her with Alina Habba as the next Attorney General of the United States. Habba has said that if made America's next "top cop", she will prosecute Barack Hussein Obama for his crimes against our nation and be The Deep State's, “Worst nightmare.” What do you think fellow patriots? Do YOU support Alina for AG? 📢💪🏻🔥🇺🇸

@ShadowofEzra This makes sense since both Dan Bongino and Todd Blanche have proven to be absolutely worthless.

Dan Bongino gives his full endorsement to Todd Blanche for Attorney General, saying he would be a great replacement and admitting that Blanche has been running the Department of Justice all along. Bongino adds that he and Blanche have worked together on public corruption cases within the government. Like Dan Bongino, Blanche is not interested in the Epstein case and has labeled Pizzagate a hoax.

@TheCalvinCooli1 James Carville is bonkers. Too much homemade moonshine has pickled his brain.

🚨Weird News: James Carville is saying that President Trump will resign after the midterms What is your response to this?

@BrandonStraka Trey Gowdy sucks. He’s a tool of the deep state.

Trey Gowdy calls for a reset at DOJ, arguing the attorney general must be independent and guided strictly by facts, not politics. “We have to change our expectations… get the politics out of the department.”

@RudyGiuliani @LauraLoomer Number of corrupt DC Democrats prosecuted: 0

PAM BONDI'S LEGACY AS UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL Here is a list of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s accomplishments and major actions as U.S. Attorney General, compiled by @LauraLoomer. > Led aggressive fentanyl and opioid enforcement: Bondi oversaw large-scale seizures of fentanyl (including over 22 million pills and thousands of kilograms in early months) which prevented millions of overdose deaths. > Strengthened immigration enforcement: Bondi directed the DOJ to use all available criminal statutes against illegal immigration, pursued harsher penalties for crimes committed by illegal aliens, and supported deportation operations in coordination with foreign governments. > Established Joint Task Force October 7 (JTF 10-7): Bondi created a dedicated task force at the DOJ to prosecute perpetrators of the October 7, 2023 Hamas Islamic terror attacks, target Hamas leadership/financiers, and address support for Iranian proxies who operate on US soil. > Issued major policy directives: Bondi signed approximately 14 memos aligning DOJ priorities, including eliminating DEI programs, reviving the federal death penalty, reviewing prior Trump-related cases, and creating a task force on the weaponization of the DOJ. > Reformed DOJ personnel and structure: Bondi conducted reviews and reassignments of prosecutors involved in January 6th and Trump-related investigations, and she dismissed and modified certain Biden-era lawsuits and initiatives that were established as a way to weaponize the government against Trump supporters. > Combated antisemitism: Bondi launched federal initiatives and a task force to address antisemitism, particularly on college campuses. > Supported additional crime-reduction efforts: Bondi backed temporary federal involvement in Washington, D.C. policing to make DC safer and clean up crime. > Cracked Down On Men In Women’s Sports: Bondi threatened legal action over transgender participation in women’s sports. America's Mayor Live 🇺🇸