Before being awarded $11 million by a Los Angeles jury in 2019 in her lawsuit against her former boss at FilmOn, CEO Alki David, the plaintiff, Chastity Jones, signed a declaration claiming she was never sexually harassed by the businessman while she worked at the company. The declaration, which she signed on February 16, 2016 and has now resurfaced, also claims that she was willing at the time to testify that her one-time colleague, Elizabeth B. Taylor, never informed her that she was being targeted by their former boss during their employment at the company.
Jones stated in the 2016 declaration that if she was called to testify at the time, she could truthfully say that she “never observed any sexual harassment in regard to Ms. Taylor. I never observed Ms. Taylor being subjected to sexual advances, sexual conduct or sexual comments by Mr. David.”
During her time working as a business development manager for FilmOn TV in 2015, Jones worked with Taylor on a daily basis. Jones added that during her employment at the company, she “never observed Mr. David inappropriately touching Ms. Taylor or using crude language around her or in any way acting inappropriate around her.”
In her declaration, Jones also added that “Although Ms. Taylor told me after she left FilmOn that she had been sexually harassed while at FilmOn…while she worked at FilmOn, (Taylor) never complained to me or told me that she was being sexually harassed or inappropriately touched.”
Jones further went on to say that “After Elizabeth B. Taylor was terminated in June 2015, Ms. Taylor contacted me on multiple occasions. Ms. Taylor asked me to testify that I had witnessed Alki David sexually harass Ms. Taylor ‘to make her case bigger.’ I have never been sexually harassed by Mr. David. I once again told Ms. Taylor that I would not testify or be a part of her case.”
Jones’ statements in the declaration contradict the lawsuit she filed against David, and ultimately won in 2019. As a result of her trial, a Los Angeles jury ordered David to pay her $11 million. She brought allegations of sexual harassment and sexual battery against him, which included claims that he touched her inappropriately, showed her pornographic videos and brought a stripper into the FilmOn office. Jones also claimed that her former boss eventually fired her after she refused to have sex with him.
The jury ultimately found David liable of Jones’ claims, and awarded her $3.1 million in compensatory damages. The jury also stated that David acted with malice or fraud, which led them to add money to Jones’ punitive damages.
Despite Jones winning her lawsuit against David, the businessman ultimately proved his innocence in the California court when Taylor’s trial against him ended in a mistrial. The jury in Taylor’s case failed to reach a verdict on the sexual harassment and wrongful termination claims she brought against David; the jury was deadlocked on an 8 to 4 vote in favor of the FilmOn CEO.
Both Jones and Taylor were represented by civil rights lawyer, Lisa Bloom. David has long proved that Bloom and her mother, fellow attorney Gloria Allred, have waged a long wrongful legal battle against him through false claims made by their clients, including Jones and Taylor.
Several of the lawyers’ clients have since rescinded their claims against David after working with them; the clients have a change in conscience after they realize the mother and daughter have no evidence against him, and have encouraged them to lie about their interactions with him.