Busted: Major investor in Trump’s Truth Social sued for sexual misconduct
Patrick Walsh — an entrepreneur who provided more than $6 million in startup funding for former President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform — is being sued by two former employees of a gym he owns.
According to the Daily Beast, who interviewed both plaintiffs, Walsh began acting inappropriately at TMPL Lexington, which is a 24,000-square foot gym and spa complex in Manhattan. Walsh allegedly asked Taryn Baldwin, who was hired as a personal trainer, to train him. She was reportedly hesitant to say no given that Walsh was the CEO. Then, he began touching her during training sessions, texting her daily, and asking her for "an exclusive on all [her] hot pics."
"He made the conversation weird pretty quickly," Baldwin said.
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At one point, Walsh invited Baldwin over to his brother's apartment for a "strategy session," though Walsh reportedly pivoted from work-related topics soon after her arrival and suggested the two watch a movie. At that point, Baldwin alleges that Walsh "went for it" and began kissing her without her giving consent. The lawsuit said Walsh then "reached his hands under [Baldwin's] clothing and tried to lower her pants."
"It was zero to 100," Baldwin told the Beast.
Walsh is also accused of having an inappropriate relationship with TMPL Lexington employee Megan Lange, who said she was "stonewalled, retaliated against, and financially manipulated" by her former boss between 2021 and 2023. Lange was initially hired to be the gym's "brand director" in 2021 a month after meeting Walsh, which was a promotion from her previous roles as a cycling instructor and personal trainer at the gym. Lange said she initially rebuffed Walsh's advances, but then eventually began a secret relationship with him that she said was filled with "secrets, gaslighting, and emotional manipulation."
In a conversation about the gym's branding, Lange's lawsuit said Walsh wanted TMPL Lexington to have "sexier imagery and the gyms full of ‘girls with hot asses' because according to him, that's why men join a gym" and that he "stated several times that he didn’t want the TMPL gyms to be ‘gay gyms.’" Despite Lange going to HR about Walsh's inappropriate texts to Baldwin and other issues, she was "reprimanded and ignored." She was eventually pushed out of her leadership role in September of 2022.
READ MORE: 'Really bad': Former Trump staffer details the extent of his sexual harassment
“It’s not illegal to be a bad boyfriend,” Lange told the Beast. “What he did goes so far beyond that. He impacted my career, my well-being, and my professional reputation, and there needs to be accountability for that, as well as accountability for those who enable him.”
Click here to read the Beast's full report.
