RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KNX) — A total of 14 people in various leadership positions within the Greater Riverside Hispanic Chamber of Commerce have resigned, according to The San Bernardino Sun. The mass resignations came after a lawsuit filed against the organization by two women alleged they were sexually assaulted by a board member.
The plaintiffs were volunteers for the GRHCC. Both claim that board director Nicolas Perez “aggressively grabbed” and groped them, then kissed on one the neck earlier this year party at the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce convention in Indian Wells.
The suit, filed shortly thereafter, named defendants Perez, former GRHCC chair and attorney Carmen Lainez, former co-chair Sal Ayala, and former board secretary Liza Sosa.
According to the complaint, Ayala and Lainez failed to act on reports of Perez’s alleged behavior. Both were reportedly informed by one of the victims and CHCC Vice Chair Veronica Corona during the Indian Wells convention.
The plaintiffs also alleged Ayala and Lainez acted to conceal a prior claim of sexual misconduct made against Perez that resulted in his termination from a job and another lawsuit.
The complaint alleged that in a Sep. 20 board meeting conducted via Zoom, Lainez reportedly called one of the plaintiffs a liar. Sosa reportedly laughed at that same plaintiff as she tried to explain what occurred during the Indian Wells convention. Ayala reportedly said the allegations were “no big deal.”
All six of the organization’s executive board members resigned following the Sep. 20 meeting, along with eight of the 10 board directors, including Perez, Lainez, Ayala, and Sosa, according to The Sun. Only two directors, Ellias Cortez and Laura Ritchie, remained.
About six new directors have since been appointed to the board on an interim basis.
The plaintiffs have also sued the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce after demanding it remove Lainez and Ayala from their respective positions on the board and executive committee, representing the Inland Empire, and pay to each of the alleged victims $99,000. The CHCC rejected that request for settlement.
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