Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s head of security accused of sexual harassment but Zuckerberg may not have been aware of the allegations

According to reports, the personal security chief of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now accused of sexual misconduct and making racist and homophobic comments. 

As per Business Insider report (paywalled), Zuckerberg's personal security chief Liam Booth faces accusations of discriminatory conduct and severe levels of sexual harassment and battery, including racist and homophobic comments about members of Zuckerberg’s staff and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

The report cited legal letters reportedly written by two former employees of Zuckerberg’s household staff.

Liam Booth is a former Secret Service officer, according to his LinkedIn profile. Since 2017, he has been with Mark Zuckerberg's family charitable organisation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, as Chief Security Officer.

A spokesman from the family office of Zuckerberg and Chan said Booth has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of unspecified misconduct allegations. The spokesman said the office takes workplace misconduct complaints seriously.

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“The family office takes complaints of workplace misconduct very seriously and our human resources team promptly investigates all such matters,” Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Zuckerberg’s various privately employed entities, told Business Insider.

“The allegations against Liam Booth were brought to the office’s attention for the first time by The Bloom Firm after both former employees had left employment by the family office and engaged legal counsel. As soon as The Bloom Firm presented these allegations, the family office engaged Munger, Tolles & Olson, an outside law firm, to conduct an investigation of all allegations made by The Bloom Firm to determine whether the claims have merit. The investigation is ongoing. Mr. Booth is on administrative leave pending the completion of this investigation.”

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The Bloom Firm is yet to comment. Iconiq Capital, the firm that manages Zuckerberg’s affairs that includes security, is yet to comment. 

Facebook spent $20 million on security costs for Zuckerberg and his family at his residences and while traveling in 2018, according to a regulatory filing.

Booth says he has over 25-years of experience in corporate security, local, state, and federal law enforcement, security operations, intelligence briefings and analysis, critical infrastructure protection, threat assessment and the protection of the nation's highest leaders.

(With inputs from Associated Press)