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Exhibit B: Upskirt Photo of Maria Sharapova
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 1, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 1, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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If you've been hungering for a totally insane office lawsuit ever since the Knicks lawsuit case ended, prepare to be sated: A former senior VP-group creative director of ad agency Dentsu is suing his former employer for a hostile work environment that included demands he go to a brothel and a "crotch shot" photographs of women including tennis star Maria Sharapova.
Steve Biegel filed a lawsuit in Manhattan's U.S. District Court claiming that he and other Dentsu employees were subject to awkward and embarrassing sexual situations by CEO Toyo Shigeta. Biegel says that Shigeta recommended he and another employee have sex with prostitutes during a business trip in Prague. On a trip to Tokyo, he and two other employees were told to "climb naked into a bath with Shigeta" at a bathhouse. And Shigeta allegedly took a photograph of Maria Sharapova showing her panties while she was shooting a commercial for Dentsu client Canon; per Ad Age, "Mr. Shigeta's crotch obsession led him to pass the photo around." The photograph was included in the lawsuit as evidence.
Biegel says that he complained to HR in early 2006 and that led to deterioration in his relationship with Shigeta and Biegel's ultimate termination in November 2006. However, Dentsu claims that Biegel is trying to shake them down for money: "When Dentsu refused to yield to Mr. Biegel's unreasonable demands, he made outrageous allegations which the company has refuted."
AdAge has a PDF of the lawsuit. It's some reading.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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