"$70,000 CEO" Dan Price Accused Of Raping A Woman In Her Sleep, Resigns From Gravity Payments

Dan Price built a large social media following in a short amount of time; he publicly announced that he opted in to cut his own pay to $70,000 a year in order to raise the minimum wage at his company and pay his employees more than they would make at competing companies. A recent investigative piece from the New York Times, though, sheds light on multiple accusations of sexual assault. One former employee from Gravity Payments claimed, "Social allows him to control the narrative." Price resigned as CEO shortly after the NYT piece was released.

CEO Dan Price Accused of Raping a Woman in Her Sleep, Resigns From Gravity Payments

Kacie Margis is a model and artist who heard of Price through social media, where he routinely promotes progressive politics and informs everyone of his decision to slash his own pay in order to provide his employees with a higher salary.

Price has more than 747,000 followers on Twitter and his bio reads, "Just trying to stand up for the underdog." Many people comment on his posts and praise him for being a great boss or ask where they can apply for a position at Gravity Payments.

Price's image was quickly shattered, however, when the NYT piece revealed that Margis accused Price of rape after they had been dating for a couple months. They were on a trip together in Palm Springs and Margis said he kicked her out of their hotel room wearing nothing but a bikini and a coverup because he needed to take a work call. When she returned, he tried to kiss her; when she refused, he grew angry.

“He said it is so hard being him in the world because of his intelligence,” Margis said.

Later that day, Price allegedly tried to initiate sex with her but she declined. When she went to sleep that night, she could feel Price penetrating her even though she said no to him multiple times. She told the NYT that she was "worried he would kill her if she tried to stop him."

"Did you just rape me?" she asked him. But he denied it. "He looked me dead in the eyes and said what I know happened didn't happen," she said. Margis told Price that she was in pain and she could feel his semen inside of her. He tried to deny it again, first saying that he only used his fingers, then saying he only used the tip of his penis.

She filed a police report and said that Price bragged about the rape, insisting that nobody would believe the accusations "because of who he is."

This certainly isn't the first time that Price has been accused of assault. His former wife Kristie Colón gave a TEDx talk in October 2015 and described scenarios in which he would grab her, shake her, punch her in the stomach, and slap her across the face. However, her speech was never made public because Price contacted the University of Kentucky, who hosted the TEDx talk, and insisted that the presentation could be defamatory. The university "simply decided not to post" the video.

Yet another woman has come forward to describe sexual assault from Price. She said he began watching porn on their third date together and he later coerced her into having sex. Three other women talked to the NYT and said that Price filmed them having sex without their consent.

Price resigned from Gravity Payments and shared the email he wrote to his employees. "My presence has become a distraction here. I also need to step aside from these duties to focus full time on fighting false accusations made against me," he wrote. "I'm not going anywhere."

He received many positive responses on Twitter from people who said he would be missed and they appreciated his perspective on workers rights and minimum wage.