In March, Patrice Lataillade, Marc Jacobs International CFO and COO, filed suit against his former employer and its president, Robert Duffy, for creating a "discriminatory environment" that involved "displaying [of] gay pornography in the office and requiring employees to look at it," and Duffy's "requirement that an MJI store employee perform a pole dance for him." You know, typical work stuff. Lataillade asserted that complaining about these practices got him fired. At the time, MJI said that he was actually fired for "serious matters unrelated to the allegations made in the complaint." Now, in MJI's answer to Lataillade's complaint, we find out what those "serious matters" are: "manipulation of MJI's financial performance" to the tune of $20 million.
The Post reports that MJI alleges Lataillade "was able to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonus payments for himself" that were the direct result of his phony math. The company also trumpets Lataillade's extravagant contract, which gave him "an annual automobile allowance of $10,000, annual round-trip airfare to Paris" for him and his family, and "additional compensation for tuition fees for Lataillade's children." WOW! It's like he was the CFO/COO of a fashion company worth billions of dollars or something!
And what of Lataillade's accusation that his bosses' "production and dissemination of a book which includes photos of MJI staff in sexual positions or nude?" Shucks, that was just for breast cancer. In related news, we look forward to McDonald's new coffee book to benefit heart disease, entitled "Men & Women Of The Fry Vat: That OT Should Show Up On Your Next Paycheck, Honest."
Curiously MJI's filing doesn't answer the obvious question of how Lataillade could hide his deeds for so long, saying only that they were found when they hired a new VP of finance last July. Although the document says that "Lataillade was not subjected to sexual harassment or retaliation, nor did he ever complain of such conduct," the fact that most of the document personally attacks Lataillade gives it a specious air of petty retaliation. Lataillade's lawyer tells the paper that the company was audited repeatedly during the time when he was alleged to have siphoned money away, and that MJI's denial was "surprising" given that they have evidence. Look for MJI to bribe settle this case away soon!
