A Seattle-based Amazon Web Services employee has sued the company, alleging it forced her to keep working with a senior manager she says raped her after a company-hosted event during a 2023 business trip to New York. Laura Danbom, who works as a marketing and operations manager for Amazon at the company's Seattle headquarters, filed the lawsuit in state court in Seattle this week, seeking lost wages and a jury trial.
According to KUOW, the lawsuit accuses Amazon of creating a hostile work environment by requiring Danbom to continue working with the manager, Michelangelo Simonte, and also claims Amazon violated Washington's Silenced No More Act. Simonte worked as a top-performing advertising executive in Danbom's division based in Madrid, according to the New York Post, which first reported details of the complaint. Danbom alleges Simonte raped her in her hotel room at the Hyatt Place on West 24th Street in Chelsea during the early morning hours, following a cocktail reception that KUOW reports was hosted by Amazon during the October 2023 trip.
What the Lawsuit Describes
Per the complaint as described by the New York Post, Danbom and colleagues, including Simonte, traveled to New York together, and the group later attended an Amazon-paid open-bar event and karaoke bars. The complaint alleges Simonte kissed Danbom and persuaded her to let him accompany her back to her hotel room, where the alleged rape occurred. Danbom reported the incident to the New York Police Department the next day and submitted to a rape kit, according to the complaint cited by the Post.
The lawsuit says a police report included DNA evidence from a condom Danbom provided, though a sample from Simonte was never collected for comparison, the station's report notes. Danbom's attorney, Jay Free, said police declined to refer the case to local prosecutors, telling the Post that police reported exhausting all investigative avenues. The complaint further alleges police did not interview witnesses Danbom said she told immediately after the alleged rape, including another Amazon employee.
Conflicting Accounts From Simonte
According to the complaint, Simonte at one point said he was 200% sure the two never had sexual intercourse, but later said he was too drunk to remember. He did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn before the Post's story published, and KUOW likewise reported it had not received a response from him before its own publication. Simonte remains employed by Amazon at its Madrid offices, according to the Post.
Amazon's Internal Investigation
Danbom said she reported the alleged assault to police, colleagues and Amazon's human resources department, and the complaint says she informed HR a couple of days after the trip. Amazon investigated her allegations and placed Simonte on a monthslong leave of absence before ultimately deciding he did not violate company policy, characterizing her account as unfounded due to insufficient evidence in what it called a he-said-she-said situation, according to the filing described by the Post.
Danbom said Amazon leadership told her they did not find sufficient evidence to prove her allegations, and that the colleagues she told about the incident were not interviewed as part of that review, per KUOW's reporting. The complaint alleges Amazon closed its investigation without interviewing corroborating witnesses or gathering available evidence, and that the company asked her inappropriate and re-traumatizing questions during the process. According to the suit, Amazon told her it would reopen the case if New York prosecutors brought charges against Simonte.
A Promotion Given Up
The filing alleges Amazon instructed Danbom not to discuss the allegation at work because it was considered highly confidential, which she said prevented her from warning other women who might interact with Simonte at company events. She was told her role would not change and that she would need to keep working directly with him by phone, email and remote meetings, according to the complaint.
Danbom said she took two leaves of absence following the incident and submitted ten job applications within Amazon before eventually transferring to a different position where she would not interact with Simonte in 2024. She described the move as a lateral one that took her off a promotion path, telling KUOW she transferred to another department to avoid him, walking away from a promotion in the process. She called the position change really an escape, according to the Post's account of the complaint.
Amazon's Response and the Legal Claims
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the company has zero tolerance for workplace sexual misconduct or violence of any kind and thoroughly investigates every report, with employees subject to termination if found to have violated policy. Amazon said it has robust policies and trained investigators to ensure concerns are heard and addressed, and that it could not share details of pending litigation but would continue its processes and hold employees to the same standards, the station reported.
Washington's Silenced No More Act, under RCW 49.44.211, addresses how nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions can silence people who are victims of, or have knowledge about, illegal discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage violations or sexual assault. A related statute, RCW 4.24.840, addresses nondisclosure agreements that attempt to limit a person's ability to produce evidence of past sexual harassment or sexual assault by a party to a civil action. The complaint seeks lost wages, including front and back pay, lost bonuses and other employment benefits in an amount to be determined at trial, and Danbom has requested a jury to hear her case.
