A former executive of a Bronxville skin care company claims that the founder refused to honor a promise to give him a share of the business worth $4.5 million because he discontinued an 8-year sexual relationship.
Brett Dugan accused Soleil Toujours LLC and majority owner Valerie McMurray of sexual harassment and retaliation, in a March 13 complaint filed in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
“Ms. McMurray frequently made clear to Mr. Dugan that continuing their personal and sexual relationship on her terms was the quid pro quo for continuing his employment with the company,” the complaint states.
Defense attorney Michael J. Volpe said McMurray and Soleil Toujours intend to vigorously defend themselves and certain facts will come to light will vindicate them.
McMurray founded Soleil Toujours in 2011 to make sunscreen products with healthy, natural ingredients packaged in environmentally-friendly materials.
“We believe in letting the sun shine in,” the company declares in a list of its beliefs. “We believe an application a day keeps the surgeon away.”
Last May, Vogue magazine ranked Soleil Clean Conscious Body Sunscreen Mist as the best sunscreen spray.
Dugan, of Lake Forest, Illinois, says he was hired in January 2015 as chief operating officer to run the company, grow business and attract investors.
McMurray allegedly agreed to give him an equity position initially set at 17.8%.
Dugan claims he played a significant role in transforming Soleil Toujours from a business with $200,000 in annual revenue to a company valued by investors at $30 million by 2022. By then, new investments had diluted his share to 15.1% that was worth $4.5 million.
He claims that the sex began shortly after he was hired, and he describes a volatile relationship. McMurray alternately praised his work to others, according to the complaint, demeaned him in front of employees, industry colleagues and vendors when she was angry, and threatened to fire him if he did not continue having sex with her.
In November 2022 she allegedly told Dugan that she wanted to divorce her husband and live with him.
Dugan claims that he said it was not a good idea and she confronted him about seeing another woman.
Shortly thereafter, the complaint states, he was locked out of the company computer systems. In January 2023 he was fired.
He says the company has not paid compensation he earned, refused to recognize his ownership interest, and refused to pay his share of profits and distributions.
Dugan is asking the court to declare that he owns 15.1% of Soleil Toujours, order an accounting of the business, and award unspecified damages.
