Former Fb government Sheryl Sandberg spent $13,000 on lingerie for herself and a younger feminine assistant throughout a visit to Europe — and exhorted her to “come to bed” throughout a personal jet flight on the way in which residence, in accordance with an explosive new memoir.
The bombshell claims have been made in a guide revealed by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Fb worker who wrote in regards to the six years she spent on the tech big in her guide titled “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.”
Throughout a protracted drive by means of Europe, Sandberg and her 26-year-old assistant took turns sleeping in one another’s laps and stroking one another’s hair, Wynn-Williams alleged within the explosive tell-all.
In the course of the journey, Sandberg instructed Wynn-Williams to buy lingerie for each of them, no matter price — the ultimate invoice reaching $13,000, in accordance with a guide assessment revealed on Monday by the New York Instances.
In line with the guide assessment, a pajama-clad Sandberg grew visibly irritated when Wynn-Williams declined her supply to affix her in “the only bed on the plane” throughout a flight residence on a personal jet.
Williams left the corporate in 2017 — earlier than it rebranded into Meta.
“This is a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives,” a Meta spokesperson advised The Publish.
“Eight years ago, Sarah Wynn-Williams was fired for poor performance and toxic behavior, and an investigation at the time determined she made misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment.”
The spokesperson added that “since then, she has been paid by anti-Facebook activists and this is simply a continuation of that work.”
“Whistleblower status protects communications to the government, not disgruntled activists trying to sell books,” the Meta spokesperson stated.
Wynn-Williams additionally recollects Fb’s prime coverage government, Joel Kaplan, participating in conduct that made her deeply uncomfortable, in accordance with the assessment.
Kaplan, a former Marine and ex-boyfriend of Sandberg’s from Harvard, served as Fb’s vice chairman of US coverage earlier than changing into vice chairman of world coverage — and in the end Wynn-Williams’ boss.
Kaplan, a conservative operative with deep ties to Republican politics, as soon as pressed towards her on the dance flooring at a piece occasion, commenting that she seemed “sultry” and making unsettling remarks about her husband, Wynn-Williams wrote within the guide.
When she almost died from an amniotic fluid embolism whereas giving beginning to her second baby, Kaplan continued to electronic mail her all through her maternity depart, insisting on weekly videoconferences, it was claimed.
Even after she defined that she required further surgical procedure as a result of she was nonetheless bleeding, Kaplan reportedly pressed her: “But where are you bleeding from?”
An inner Fb investigation in the end cleared Kaplan of any wrongdoing, in accordance with the Instances’ assessment of the guide.
The corporate’s investigation into the claims spanned 42 days throughout which 17 totally different witnesses have been interviewed, in accordance with a supply with data of the state of affairs.
Sarah Feinberg, a former Meta worker, took to the social media platform Threads to defend her ex-employer and Kaplan.
“I left Facebook/Meta more than a decade ago to return to government service, so it’s been a minute … but this book overlaps with all of my years there, and the author was one of my colleagues. While everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinion and their own experience, I do not recognize this account of the company, its leaders, or my time there,” Feinberg wrote on Threads.
Feinberg added that she “was present for a lot of these events – and I worked on some of these projects – and these descriptions are just not even close.”
She additionally defended Kaplan, writing: “I worked with Joel Kaplan throughout my years at Facebook – he was one of my closest colleagues – and I have never observed him be anything other than professional, thoughtful, strategic and fair.”
In the meantime, Wynn-Williams describes CEO Mark Zuckerberg as somebody who transitioned from being fixated on coding and engineering to an government consumed by politics and public adoration, in accordance with the Instances.
Whereas on a tour of Asia, Wynn-Williams was instructed to rearrange for a crowd of over one million individuals to make sure he was “gently mobbed” whereas on a visit to Indonesia, it was claimed.
At one level, he advised Wynn-Williams that President Andrew Jackson, identified for signing the Indian Removing Act into regulation, was the best US chief government as a result of he “got stuff done.”
Wynn-Williams’ memoir was stored underneath wraps by the writer till simply days earlier than its launch on Tuesday.
She supplied a scathing insider account of the corporate’s leaders, portraying them as power-hungry, irresponsible and detached to the implications of their actions.
Within the guide, Wynn-Williams likened Zuckerberg and Sandberg to the “careless people” from “The Great Gatsby,” smashing issues and leaving others to cope with the fallout.
The guide additionally detailed Fb’s secretive makes an attempt to re-enter the Chinese language market by means of a undertaking referred to as “Aldrin,” which concerned partnerships, censorship instruments and data-sharing proposals.
In line with Wynn-Williams, Zuckerberg seemed to ingratiate himself with the Chinese language Communist Celebration.
These efforts included “providing briefings to CCP officials on new technologies like artificial intelligence, developing bespoke censorship tools with the CCP, and making efforts to hide Meta’s cooperation with the CCP from the United States Congress.”
When questioned by Congress in 2018, Zuckerberg claimed, “No decisions have been made around the conditions under which any possible future service might be offered in China.”
Within the Instances’ guide assessment, Wynn-Williams is quoted as bluntly stating: “He lies.”
Now working in AI coverage, Wynn-Williams has filed a whistleblower grievance with the SEC.
The Publish has sought remark from Sandberg.
