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Lawsuit Alleges Grindr Sold User Info Including Sexual Orientation and Location

Grindr allegedly sold a prominent Catholic priest’s sensitive personal information, causing him to lose his position as the general secretariat for the National Conference of U.S. bishops.

July 18, 2024 (Los Angeles) – Jeffrey Burrill subscribed to the Grindr app, which collected his sensitive personal data, including information about sexual orientation and location. Grindr failed to protect Burrill’s sensitive information and knowingly allowed it to be sold to third parties, according to a lawsuit filed by Helmer Friedman LLP and The Carr Law Group (Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. 24STCV17896).

Grindr’s failure to protect sensitive personal data and its subsequent sale to third parties has caused immeasurable harm. Consumers deserve transparency and security,
especially when dealing with such private information.

Grindr, based in California, owns and operates a social networking application under federal trademark registration number 3873295. The application provides online chat rooms for social networking on the Internet and mobile devices, as well as computer dating services through adult personal advertisements and social networking on the Internet and mobile devices. Described as the “largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people,” Grindr claims to have created a safe space to connect with the queer community.

In 2017, Mr. Burrill subscribed to Grindr, a gay social networking application. Grindr collected sensitive personal data from Mr. Burrill, including information about his sexual orientation and physical location. Between 2017 and 2021, the Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal (CLCR), a private foundation, purchased Mr. Burrill’s Grindr personal data and shared it with a publication called The Pillar.

In July 2021, The Pillar published an article using the Grindr data purchased from CLCR, outing Mr. Burrill and making false and lurid claims about him. This resulted in significant damage to Mr. Burrill’s reputation, leading to his resignation from the position of General Secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and causing him significant financial and emotional distress.

Despite Grindr’s assurance of protecting customers’ personal data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, they failed to disclose the steps taken to protect sensitive personal data. This was aggravated by the former Chief Privacy Officer’s revelations that Grindr was aware of its failure to protect sensitive personal data but chose not to address the issue due to a lack of resources. When the former Chief Privacy Officer raised concerns about privacy violations, they were met with pushback and disdain from Grindr.

For more information about this lawsuit, please contact Gregory D. Helmer (at 310-396-7714 ext. 102  or ghelmer@helmerfriedman.com). James C.D. Carr (at 310-919-8057 or james@carrlawgrp.com)

Similarly, if you are a witness or have information that would be relevant to the claims of Mr. Burrill, please contact Mr. Helmer and/or Mr. Carr.

DOCUMENTS:

MEDIA COVERAGE:

2024-08-06T07:24:31-08:00July 22nd, 2024|California's Unfair Competition Law, Case Update, Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA), fraud, Front Page News, Greg Helmer|Comments Off on Lawsuit Alleges Grindr Sold User Info Including Sexual Orientation and Location
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CFO Sues Solar Company, Alleges Financial Improprieties, Fraud, Misuse of EB-5 Foreign Investment Funds, Discrimination Against Non-Chinese Employees

June 24, 2015 –The former Chief Financial Officer of SolarMax Technology, Inc. – a renewable energy conglomerate located in Riverside, CA – has filed a lawsuit against the company and several of its directors and executive management team, including CEO David Hsu, Executive Vice President Ching Liu, and CFO Simon Yuan. (Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC585952). Among other things, plaintiff Michael McCaffrey alleges that he was fired for exposing fraud and financial improprieties in connection with approximately $60 million in capital SolarMax has raised from foreign nationals through the federal EB-5 Immigration and Visa Program (colloquially known as the “Visa for Sale” program). The EB-5 program provides wealthy foreign nationals (and their immediate families) with a two-year fast track to permanent U.S. residency in return for investing $1,000,000 or, in some cases, $500,000 in domestic businesses. The filing was announced today by Gregory D. Helmer, of the Los Angeles law firm of Helmer Friedman LLP.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. McCaffrey discovered that SolarMax, by engaging in a series of Enron-like “round trip” transactions with sham middleman entities, reported approximately $50,000,000 in phantom revenue on its 2011 and 2012 audited financial statements. In an effort to create a false impression of stronger financial performance and, thus, to attract investment capital, the suit alleges that SolarMax disseminated these artificially inflated figures to EB-5 investors (mostly in Taiwan and China) and others. Mr. McCaffrey also alleges that the inflated revenue figures were presented to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) – part of U.S. Homeland Security – which regulates the EB-5 program.

“Most people do not realize that there is a program by which foreign citizens can literally purchase Green Cards if they have enough money and invest it in a qualifying business,” said Mr. Helmer. The program is notorious for potential abuse and exploitation. The USCIS and the SEC have cautioned potential investors “about fraudulent investment scams that exploit the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as EB-5.”

The program is notorious for potential abuse and exploitation. The USCIS and the SEC have cautioned potential investors “about fraudulent investment scams that exploit the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as EB-5.”

The lawsuit further alleges that Mr. McCaffrey exposed a series of other unlawful activities at SolarMax, including efforts to defraud the Social Security Administration by placing non-employee friends and relatives on the company’s payroll for the sole purpose of permitting them to earn Social Security credits. He further alleges that there existed a pattern of favoritism for the many employees of Chinese descent, and that he – and other employees who were not of Chinese descent – were subjected to unfair treatment and discrimination.

Commenting on the lawsuit, Mr. Helmer said, “Mr. McCaffrey, in his role as the CFO, was simply trying to ensure that SolarMax complied with the same set of rules and operated on the same playing field as all other law-abiding companies. Instead, he was fired after discovering a pattern of improprieties and trying to protect himself – and the company – by insisting that they be discontinued.”

For more information, please contact Gregory D. Helmer or Courtney Abrams at (310) 396-7714.

McCaffrey v. SolarMax Technology, Inc. Complaint

McCaffrey v. SolarMax Technology, Inc. Press Release

2018-04-12T13:45:54-08:00June 24th, 2015|fraud, Front Page News, national origin discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination|Comments Off on CFO Sues Solar Company, Alleges Financial Improprieties, Fraud, Misuse of EB-5 Foreign Investment Funds, Discrimination Against Non-Chinese Employees
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