A Black former employee, Andre Dowtin, and Patrick Kim, an Asian man who worked as a contractor, filed a complaint in California’s Orange County Superior Court. PIMCO rejected the claim last month.
“The lawsuits themselves are baseless and an affront both to PIMCO and to the facts,” said Michael Reid, a Pimco spokesperson. “We pride ourselves on creating and fostering a safe, inclusive, and diverse community for all of our employees, with zero tolerance of discrimination in any form.”
Dowtin and Kim said in their suit that “PIMCO operates as a fraternity in a perversely literal sense.” Dowtin had been vice president in the firm’s Variable Annuities Wholesaler team, while Kim was a contractor on the data engineering team.
“Senior male Caucasian managerial-level employees mentor young Caucasian male professionals, give them preferential assignments, introduce them to the investment firm’s powerbrokers, and groom them for membership in the investment firm’s leadership, even when their professional skills and qualifications are notably deficient,” the men said in their suit.