USA Today Network: “[McCormick] Told Her That if She Ever Broke the Agreement, She Would Be in Litigation for the Rest of Her Life”

PENNSYLVANIA — Hedge fund CEO David McCormick is continuing to face scrutiny following a new report from the USA Today Network that revealed that as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, he pressed former Bridgewater employees to remain silent about unwanted sexual advances they said they experienced at the company.

The report details that among other things, David McCormick pressured an employee to be a “supportive public presence” after she reported harassment by another senior official. McCormick reportedly told another female employee who had been sexually harassed that “she would be in litigation for the rest of her life” if she broke her silence.

ICYMI: Pennsylvania Independent: GOP Senate nominee McCormick said to have told victims of sexual harassment to keep quiet

• “The Fund,” a 2023 book about the Connecticut hedge fund that Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick once headed, contains allegations that he discouraged victims of workplace sexual harassment from speaking out, according to a USA Today Network report.

• According to USA Today, Rob Copeland, a finance reporter at the New York Times, said in his book “The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend” that McCormick and Ray Dalio, the founder of the hedge fund, had warned a woman who had accused a Bridgewater executive of groping that she needed to stay quiet. “Maybe you’re remembering it wrong,” Dalio is said to have suggested. “Maybe the issue is that you aren’t being a supportive public presence for us,” McCormick allegedly added. 

• The book also includes an account of a Bridgewater employee who accused her boss of improper conduct and departed the firm “with a severance and settlement that barred her from talking about her experience.” It alleges: “Shortly before leaving, she also received an unexpected in-person visit from Bridgewater co-CEO David McCormick. He told her that if she ever broke the agreement, she would be in litigation for the rest of her life.”

• McCormick campaign spokesperson Elizabeth Gregory did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Gregory told USA Today Network that the allegations are a “retread from a year-old book” and that McCormick is proud of his tenure at Bridgewater.