Elise Clougherty pictured on her LinkedIn page.
A rape claim against a Silicon Valley tycoon has been dropped after “new evidence” came to light. On November 2, the case against millionaire Joseph Lonsdale was dropped by former Stanford student and model Elise Clougherty. He had constantly denied her allegations of rapes which took place in far flung places such as London and Rome, Lonsdale even created a website to attempt to demonstrate that he and Clougherty were in a consensual relationship.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. She Alleged That Lonsdale Told Her Women Needed to Be Raped So They Could Learn Respect
(Facebook)
In court documents that you can read below, Clougherty alleged that Lonsdale regularly degraded her, depriving her of food, physical abused her and raped her. He allegedly told her that women needed to be raped so that they could learn respect. Lonsdale constantly and adamantly denied the charges. A New York Times piece on the lawsuit reported that Lonsdale and Clougherty began dating at Stanford while he was her mentor for a course called “Technology Entrepreneurship, Engineering 145.”
2. As a Result of Clougherty’s Claims, Lonsdale Was Banned From the Stanford Campus
Joe Lonsdale pictured on his Facebook page.
With the rape allegation pending, Lonsdale was banned from his alma-mater. As of November 2, the school released a statement saying that since the suit was dropped, Lonsdale was no longer banned from the Stanford campus. That message from the illustrious California school read in part that “new evidence came to light during litigation…Accordingly, there is no basis to support a band from the Stanford campus.” The sex assault claims fell under Stanford’s Title IX policy.
3. Lonsdale Says Clougherty Told a Friend That Her Claims Were Part of a ‘Joe Take Down Scheme’
As part of his defense, Lonsdale set up the website JoeLonsdaleStatement.com, that site included documents from his counter-claim against her as well as emails that apparently showed the two in a consensual relationship. In one allegation in his counter-claim, Lonsdale says that Clougherty told a friend that her rape story was part of a “Joe take down scheme.”
4. She Has Left Modeling to Work as a Data Scientist in the Medical Industry
Clougherty pictured after her graduation from Stanford. (Facebook)
According to her LinkedIn profile, Clougherty works as a medical research data scientiest in Fairfax, Virginia. Prior to that, she was working for the Advocacy Work to End Gender Violence in D.C., as part of that role she testified before the Department of Education on prevention of gender violence. She’s a native of the D.C. suburb Vienna, Virginia. Clougherty worked for one of Lonsdale’s startups, Formation 8, for 3 months in the summer of 2012.
During her time in college, she graduated in 2013, she was a model with Ford Models, working for “Target Corporation, Vogue Magazine, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Walmart, Sears, Avon Cosmetics, Vanity Fair, Pottery Barn, Abercrombie Kids, Hecht’s, Bonton, Tommy Hilfiger.” Her Facebook page says she still works for Ford Models.
In addition to studying at Stanford, Clougherty has also studied at the University of Virginia (2015) and Georgetown University (2011).
5. Joe Lonsdale Tech Startup Is Backed by the CIA
The CIA’s headquarters in Langley. (Wikipedia)
He began is Silicon Valley career back in 2002 as a disciple of Peter Thiel. From there, he co-founded Palantir Technologies, a company which the Financial Times reports is backed by the CIA.