Joseph Lonsdale

Venture Capitalist

Joseph Lonsdale is a prominent venture capitalist, known for his involvement in Addepar, Hyperloop, OpenGov and other companies.  He is also the co-founder of Palantir.

In 2015, a woman accused Lonsdale of rape and emotional abuse. She filed a lawsuit alleging that he used his position as a mentor to her to rape her, deprive her of food and sleep, and isolate her from her loved ones.

Lonsdale denied the allegations, said that the relationship was entirely consensual, and filed his own suit against the accuser. Stanford University initially banned Lonsdale from its campus, saying that he had violated its sexual misconduct policies, but reversed that ban after reviewing “new evidence that came to light during litigation.”

Londale’s accuser dropped her suit against him and never pursued criminal charges.