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那一刻，凱瑟琳·明秀終于覺得心里的一塊大石頭落地了。那是2013年9月，在搖擺不定了幾個月后，時任投資公司Wrapports董事長的邁克爾·費羅終于簽下了一份合同，同意為明秀的職業咨詢公司The Muse注資75萬元，這筆錢應該能讓她的這家初創公司撐到年底了。在費羅的建議下，兩人去了他公司在芝加哥市區的一套公寓里吃外賣，順便討論一下如何為The Muse公司策劃一輪更大規模的融資。

不過等他們進了房間后，費羅好像把融資計劃的事忘到了腦后。明秀表示，費羅倒了兩杯波本酒，遞了一杯給她，然后將手放在她后腦上，拉過她的臉強行索吻。雖然由于他的強迫，她無法避開，但她還是轉過了頭，費羅的嘴唇落在了她的臉頰上。

明秀回憶道：“我的大腦一片空白，全身冰冷，我立即意識到，我孤身一人跟他在房間里，要想離開可能并不容易。”

在不到三年后的2016年拉斯維加斯消費電子展上，女性創業人哈根·卡普勒也遭遇了跟明秀如出一轍的局面。當時費羅也以做生意為借口，將她請進酒店套房里吃飯。卡普勒時任制造業巨頭英格索蘭公司高管，她以為費羅找她是談恒溫控制器生意的，因為他不久前剛剛把他的一家醫療創業公司賣給了IBM。沒想到，費羅好幾次用胳膊從身后抱住了她。卡普勒正色對他說，他是在侵犯她，而且她并不喜歡他。不過費羅鍥而不舍，還摸上了她的胸部。

卡普勒當時已經懷孕9周了。她表示，這段經歷讓她經常做噩夢，甚至平常很難集中精神。她只好在家里工作。“我對自己的看法都不一樣了，所以我覺得其他有相同遭遇的人肯定也是一樣的。”她說。

兩位女士都表示，費羅以提供經濟回報為誘餌，故意將她們拖到很晚。比如他提出，可以為明秀提供更多的投資和社會關系；可以跟卡普勒合作甚至提供一份高薪的工作。在經歷這次遭遇后，兩人的精神都遭到巨大的驚嚇和刺激，并且擔心他們的業務會因費羅的報復而遭到損害。

這是明秀和卡普勒第一次在媒體上談及這次經歷。在她倆的經歷中，費羅都是作為投資人和交易人對她們實施的“潛規則”。不過近幾年來，隨著費羅成為出版業巨頭Tronc公司的非執行主席和最大股東，他的影響力和權力也進一步增長了。Tronc旗下的知名媒體包括《芝加哥論壇報》、《紐約每日新聞》和《巴爾的摩太陽報》等。

上周一，費羅宣布將從Tronc公司的董事會退休，公司首席執行官賈斯汀·迪爾伯恩將接替他擔任董事長一職。費羅將仍以顧問身份每年從Tronc領取500萬美元報酬，直至2020年12月31日。

《財富》5月初聯系了費羅，請他就該兩名女性創業人的遭遇發表評論。他通過一名發言人表示拒絕接受采訪，此外，他對明秀、卡普勒或本文中其他人提出的任何指責均未做出回應或辯解。

費羅的發言人向《財富》提供了以下聲明：“在領導上市公司和其他企業的20余年中，邁克爾·費羅從未收到過針對他的訴訟，也未因指控進行過調解。你們的公開指控似乎主要涉及個人與個人之間的私人行為，且對方也并非Tronc或者他所經營的其他企業的雇員。正如最近所宣布的，費羅先生在領導Tronc公司扭虧為盈后，已經退休重返私人生活。因此，我們不會對此事作其他評論。”

費羅的職業生涯創辦過許多公司，其中最成功的是兩家數字創業公司Click Commerce（2006年以2.92億美元出售給Illinois Tool Works公司）和Merge Healthcare（2015年以10億美元出售給IBM）。他用這兩次創業積累的資金創辦了兩家投資機構，進而投資了多家創業公司——包括2011年收購了《芝加哥太陽報》，自此創立了一個商業媒體帝國。2016年，他收購了論壇報業（Tribune Company）的股份，將其改名為Tronc，如今Tronc已經增長為一家收益達15.2億美元的大公司。

就在51歲的費羅曝出性騷擾丑聞的同時，他一手打造的Tronc也在正遭遇劇烈動蕩。在更大的圖景上，旨在呼吁職場同權的#MeToo運動則正在席卷美國各大企業，重塑他們的企業文化。今年2月，Tronc公司同意將《洛杉磯時報》和公司旗下的其他加州媒體資產以5億美元的價格打包出售給華裔醫療大亨陳頌雄，另外陳頌雄還將承擔前者9000萬美元的養老金負債。據說此次出售的幕后原因錯綜復雜，Tronc公司對該報報社的人事安排遭到了報社員工的激烈反對，且報社的工會運動隱隱有不受控之勢，這或許是令費羅決定拋棄該報的主要原因。在此前的1月份，NPR電視臺曝出《洛杉磯時報》首席執行官羅斯·萊文森涉嫌兩起性騷擾案件，還稱他在此前工作過的地方搞“團團伙伙”，萊文森因此被迫辭職。（萊文森在與NPR電視臺CEO通電話時稱這些指控都是“謊言”。不過后來Tronc公司表示，經調查，萊文森是清白的。隨后為他提供了一份新工作。）僅僅幾周后，《紐約每日新聞》的兩位總編也因涉嫌多樁性騷擾事件而被公司解雇。他倆都是在2017年Tronc收購該報之前任職的，看來以“生活作風問題”打壓異己，不論中外都是常用的。

Kathryn Minshew finally felt like a weight had lifted. It was September of 2013, and after months of back-and-forth, Michael Ferro, then-chairman of investment firm Wrapports, had at last signed a term sheet promising her career-advice startup, The Muse, the $750,000 infusion of capital it needed to make it past the end of the year. Now, at Ferro’s suggestion, the two were headed to his company’s corporate apartment in downtown Chicago for an evening of takeout and discussion of how The Muse might go on to a land a much bigger round of funding.

But once they stepped into the apartment, Ferro seemed to forget about their plans to strategize. He poured two glasses of bourbon and, giving one to Minshew, put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her face in for a kiss, she says. Although the move was forceful enough that she couldn’t pull away, she says she was able to turn her head so that Ferro’s lips landed on her cheek.

“I stopped thinking in complete thoughts. My whole body felt like ice,” recalls Minshew. “I suddenly realized that I was alone in this apartment with him and that it might not be very easy to leave.”

Less than three years later in Las Vegas during the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, Hagan Kappler says she found herself in a similar position—at a private dinner in Ferro’s Aria hotel suite under the pretense of doing business. Kappler, then an executive at manufacturing giant Ingersoll Rand, thought she was there to talk thermostats with Ferro, who had recently sold his healthcare startup to IBM. Instead, Kappler says he repeatedly wrapped his arms around her from behind. She told him he was in her space and that she didn’t like it. Then he did it again, this time groping her breast.

Kappler, who was nine weeks pregnant at the time, says she was plagued by nightmares and had trouble concentrating. She started working from home. “I just saw myself differently so I felt for sure everybody else did, too,” Kappler says.

Both women say they were drawn to these late night meetings by the promise of financial reward—further investment and connections for Minshew; a potential partnership and possibly even a lucrative job for Kappler. After these encounters, both described being frightened and taken by surprise, as well as fearing that their business ventures were in jeopardy.

Minshew and Kappler, who are now speaking about their experiences on the record for the first time, encountered Ferro through his work as an investor and dealmaker. But his sphere of influence and power increased over the past couple of years after he became the non-executive chairman and largest shareholder of Tronc, the publishing powerhouse that includes iconic titles like the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, and the Baltimore Sun.

On last Monday, Ferro announced that he was retiring from the board of directors of Tronc, and that CEO Justin Dearborn would succeed him as chairman. Ferro will still be paid $5 million-per-year by Tronc through Dec. 31, 2020, to serve as a consultant.

Fortune reached out to Ferro last week with the details of both women’s accounts. Through a spokesman, he declined to be interviewed and did not address or dispute any of the specific allegations made by Minshew and Kappler or others in this story.

Ferro’s spokesman provided this statement to Fortune: “Over more than 20 years of leading public companies and other enterprises, Michael Ferro has never had a claim filed against him nor a settlement made on his behalf. Your on-the-record allegations appear to involve private conduct with private individuals who were not employees of tronc or any other company he ran. As recently announced, Mr. Ferro has retired back to private life after leading a financial turnaround of tronc as the non-executive chairman. There will, therefore, be no other comment.”

A serial entrepreneur, Ferro made the bulk of his fortune on a pair of digital startups—Click Commerce (sold in 2006 for $292 million to Illinois Tool Works) and Merge Healthcare (sold to IBM for $1 billion in 2015). He’s used the proceeds to fund two investment vehicles that have backed an array of businesses—including the 2011 purchase of the Chicago Sun-Times, the beginning of Ferro’s aspirations to create a media empire. In 2016, he purchased his stake in the Tribune Company and renamed it Tronc, which he’s grown into a $1.52 billion-in-revenue operation.

The accusations against Ferro, 51, emerge at a tumultuous period for Tronc—and at a moment when the #MeToo movement is reshaping corporate culture. In February, Tronc agreed to sell the Los Angeles Times and other California titles for $500 million to healthcare tycoon Patrick Soon-Shiong, who will also assume $90 million in pension liabilities. The deal came amid a backlash from the newsroom over Tronc’s efforts to install new management and quell the paper’s unionization efforts. In January, Los Angeles Times CEO and publisher Ross Levinsohn took a voluntary unpaid leave after NPR reported that he had been a defendant in two sexual harassment lawsuits and had fostered “frat house” behavior at previous workplaces. (Levinsohn called the allegations “lies” in a call with NPR’s CEO and has since been given a new job at Tronc after it said an investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.) Only a few weeks later, two New York Daily News top editors—whose tenure pre-dated Tronc’s 2017 acquisition of the paper—were fired over multiple accusations of sexual harassment.

在曾與費羅共事的人看來，費羅對女性的可疑行為沒什么可奇怪的。《財富》曾采訪了9名在《Splash》和《Grid》雜志工作的員工，他們都是費羅當政期間進入《芝加哥太陽報》的附屬媒體里工作的（2016年，費羅轉手了《芝加哥太陽報》）。這些員工表示，費羅對兩家雜志的參與很深，從他們描述的經歷來看，女性員工在這兩家雜志都工作得很不舒服。

據這些員工稱，費羅經常會對女員工的衣著打扮品頭論足，告訴女員工她們看起來很“性感”，或者說他喜歡她們穿短裙什么的。有一次，他甚至握著一名女員工的小腿，仔細研究她“性感”的高根鞋。他經常聘用年輕女性當自己的秘書，有些員工將這些女秘書暗諷為“費羅的天使”。

《Grid》雜志的前總編馬特·普萊森特表示，費羅曾指示他，不要把雜志后面的諷刺專欄交給女性作家來寫，因為費羅覺得女人沒有幽默感。他說：“他的想法是，女人是用來看的，而男人就是男人。”

自從2016年擔任Tronc公司董事長以來，費羅的個人形象在全美范圍內有所上升。但是在他的老家芝加哥，費羅一始是一股不容忽視的力量：他是創業界的中流砥柱，媒體業的“看門人”，也是慈善圈的常客。而且他也形成了一個徹頭徹尾的“玩主”形象。他的創業公司Click辦公的地方，正是當年《花花公子》雜志社的辦公室，費羅就坐在當年休·海夫納的辦公室里。他的生日派對也是芝加哥各路八卦媒體的年度保留節目，前來捧場的都是雅培首席執行官邁爾斯·懷特、箭牌首席執行官比爾·威格利和市長拉姆·伊曼紐爾等政商名人。據《克瑞恩芝加哥商業周刊》報道，出生于芝加哥的知名女演員珍妮·麥卡錫有一次也出現在他的生日派對上，并親自演唱了生日歌。后來她也成了《芝加哥論壇報》的專欄作家。

明秀之前曾兩次在媒體上講過她的遭遇，只是并沒有提及費羅的名字，這也是她第一次公開提到他的名字。《財富》采訪了四個跟她關系比較親近的人，她在事后就將此事告訴了她的朋友，并在電子郵件里將她的遭遇告訴了其他一些投資人。至于卡普勒，《財富》采訪12個她身邊的人，他們都知道了她的遭遇，也包括她當時的經理。

兩個女人的故事發生的時間和地點，也正是許多商業交易成交的時間和地點，也就是朝九晚五以外的灰色地帶，夜宵、酒局等等都是職場潛規則的高發地。它是一個更難駕馭、更加復雜、更少規則的地方，也是一個幾十年來基本上不歡迎女人的地方。

當今時代，商業的機遇和網絡日漸變得更加包容，但是當面臨簽不下客戶、拉不來投資的艱難時刻，女性仍然處在一個不公平的地位。打進“老男孩”圈子的女人們，必須時不時掂量一系列問題，而這些問題永遠不會發生在他們的男同事身上——我該如何回應那些具有性暗示的話？他會不會以為我們在約會呢？這個男人真的相信我的公司嗎，還是他只想跟我啪啪啪？

如果拒絕了“潛規則”，女人們可能就會與關系、貴人、資本這種商業世界里最重要的東西無緣了。而要想獲得關系、貴人和資本的垂青，女人又可能遭遇男人的另眼相待，甚至是騷擾乃至襲擊。因此不管女人的選擇是什么，在商界打拼的女人都面臨內生的風險。這就是明秀和卡普勒面對費羅時的兩難處境。結果她們倆的信心都因此事遭到了動搖，甚至開始懷疑自己和自己的判斷力。

明秀和卡普勒互相并不認識，不過現在，她們卻是因為同樣的原因而想公開說出自己的故事。明秀表示：“很大一部分原因是，我意識到，做這種事的人永遠不會只做一次，每次都會有新的人遭遇這種事，而我可以阻止這種事發生在她們身上。”

卡普勒表示，她希望自己的故事能讓其他女性產生警醒，從而使她們避免遇到跟自己相同的遭遇。“我以前以為這種事永遠不會發生在我身上，我覺得認識我的人也不會想到這種事會發生在我身上。”

The Muse現在已經是一家相當成功的公司了，年用戶達到5000萬人，總融資額近3000萬美元。但2012年的時候，它只是一家平平無奇的創業公司，就連相對小額的融資也經常拉不到。對于當時年僅26歲的明秀來說，她當時只希望投資人把她當作一個嚴肅的創業人來對待，為她投資。

那年7月，明秀在一次會議上認識了邁克爾·費羅，他貌似這是這種投資人。在他們偶然認識的幾周后，費羅同意加入該公司120萬美元的種子輪融資，其他參投的還有Great Oaks Ventures投資公司、戈登·克勞福德、凱茜·布萊克等風投公司和投資人。費羅投資了10萬美元，這也使他成為The Muse最大的投資人之一。明秀當時在紐約工作，她一到芝加哥就找機會與費羅見面，在費羅的建議下，她也登上了幾回他旗下的報刊。

2013年5月，有一次她和費羅一起在芝加哥吃午飯。明秀提出了她目前的窘境——The Muse公司想要進行A輪融資，但她對投資人給出的融資邀約并不滿意，但她也不想公司被收購。費羅表示他有辦法，他的Wrapports公司可以額外為The Muse注入種子投資，這樣The Muse就可以稍晚一些再進行A輪融資，同時融資規模也將大得多。她回憶道：“我當時想：‘我的天，那樣就太完美了。’我覺得，這個人看起來真的很信任我。”

Wrapports是費羅創辦的兩家投資公司之一，不過這筆投資并沒有及時到位。隨著夏天漸漸過去，明秀越來越沮喪和焦急，她知道現有資金最多只能撐到年底。最后Wrapports公司終于簽了風投協議，2013年9月18日，明秀飛到芝加哥談最終的交易細節。會后，她給另一位創始人艾利克斯·卡沃拉克斯得意地打電話道：“我們搞定了，交易通過了。”

交易完成后，費羅提議到，她應該跟他去附近的一家餐館與他們的朋友們喝點酒。“他明確表示，這些人都很有錢，都是有權有勢的人。”然后他倆可以去公司的公寓，叫點外賣，然后“聊聊生意的事”。費羅也告訴明秀，那套公寓當晚沒有別人，并且邀請她留宿在那里。他還善解人意地表示，The Muse還處于創業階段，能省點是點。

走進公寓樓后，明秀感到一絲不安。“我想：‘噢天哪，這太古怪了，我才27歲，而且我現在跟這個男的在一起。’”轉念又想，自己已經見過他的妻子了，他也知道自己有男朋友，而且他剛剛給自己的公司投了75萬美元，說明他看上的是自己的創業能力。于是她告訴自己：“這沒什么奇怪的，這是看起來奇怪，沒事的，沒事的。”

但當他們進入房間后，事態的發展顯然表示，這個晚上注定不會“沒事”。明秀正在透過落地窗俯瞰城市的地平線時，費羅端著兩杯波本酒走了過來。然后他將手放在了她的腦后，試圖將她拉過來強吻。

“仿佛全世界都凍住了，”她回憶那一刻道：“我覺得深深的恐懼，一方面是擔心我的人身安全，更多的則是擔心，如果我不能完美地控制事態，這筆對公司極為重要的交易就將毀了。”

明秀掙脫開了，說道：“我不是那種腳踩兩只船的女人。”費羅向后坐下了，上下打量著她，說道：“幸虧我沒把你帶到餐廳去，否則人們還覺得咱們睡在一起了，而事實上沒有。我寧可希望跟你睡覺，而大家都不認識你。”不過他倒是沒有再碰她。

明秀回憶道，在她明確表示拒絕后，費羅似乎對她失去了興趣。他跟她講起了他們之前喝酒時認識的一個投資人的事，他說這人就在樓下，想跟她吃頓飯，談談The Muse公司的事。她趁著這個機會離開了公寓。

飯后，她一個人回到了終于空空蕩蕩的公寓，再次給公司的另一名創始人打了電話，但這次內容卻完全不一樣了：“交易完全達成了嗎？我也不知道了。”由于擔心公寓里安裝了竊聽器或者隱藏的攝像頭，她只是簡單對卡沃拉克斯表示，這里發生了一些不好的事，但具體細節她直到第二天下午返回紐約后才告訴了卡沃拉克斯。那一晚她是和衣而睡的。

《財富》采訪了卡沃拉克斯，他也確認了明秀的話。她還將這段經歷告訴了另外三人，他們也在采訪中證實了此事。來往郵件記錄也證實，明秀通過電子郵件告知了公司的13名早期投資人，稱一位領投的投資人對她做出了“極為不當的語言和肢體行為”。在一封郵件中，明秀還提到了費羅的名字。

回到紐約后，明秀有好幾天都在恍恍惚惚中度過，“完全是魂不附體的狀態”。由于企業處于生死存亡之際，明秀已經沒有時間慢慢消化這段遭遇了，她和卡沃拉克斯必須解決The Muse的生存問題——費羅的錢還算數嗎？如果算數，我們還用他的錢嗎？二人花了幾個小時時間，針對可能出現的場景制定預案，明秀甚至打算不再住現在的房子，搬到另一名創始人的沙發上住。“我們甚至還列出了一張打算裁掉的員工名單，打算在不得以時遣散他們。”

他們決定“放慢”履行Wrapports公司的風投協議，先抓緊看看能不能從其他地方拉來融資。雖然協議已經簽了，Wrapports也沒有撤資的意思，但也基本沒有任何動作去推進協議的落實。最終，明秀和卡沃拉克斯找到了其他投資人，在兩個月里拉來了75萬美元的投資。明秀飛到芝加哥與費羅談的這筆投資最終悄悄地不了了之了。

2015年4月，The Muse開始準備下一輪融資，此事需要包括Wrapports在內的所有種子投資人同意（Wrapports至今仍是The Muse的投資方）。為此，卡沃拉克斯給費羅打了個電話，當時明秀也在場。明秀表示，費羅在電話中還提到之前沒有了下文的那次投資。“他說：‘對啊，當時我們不是說要追加投資的嗎，怎么就沒有追加呢？’”

哈根·卡普勒原本不想以這種方式首次在《財富》雜志露面的。

卡普勒擁有弗吉尼亞大學達頓商學院的MBA學位，曾供職于麥肯錫、星巴克、高盛、聯合技術，她的簡歷是任何獵頭都眼紅的那種。37歲時，她已經當上了英格索蘭公司的高管，這家公司是一家市值達142億美元的跨國制造公司。

然后她遇見了邁克爾·費羅。此后的很長一段時間里，她的生命仿佛分成了兩段——2016年1月5日之前的她，和那一天之后的她。

以下是她回憶2015年9月至2016年1月她與費羅的互動。她和費羅每次有過交集之后，都把經歷敘述給了她的丈夫、弟弟、父親和經理，他們也都接受了《財富》的采訪。她也把這件事講給了五個好友、一位律師、她的婦產醫生和一位心理醫生，只不過詳細程度略有不同。他們也都接受了《財富》的采訪。

卡普勒是在2015年9月第一次遇見費羅的。英格索蘭公司讓卡普勒制定一個數字戰略，她弟弟曾經與費羅有交情，便建議卡普勒與他聯系。當時費羅剛剛同意將他的醫療創業公司Merge以10億美元出售給IBM，貌似對卡普勒所關注的領域有頗深的見解。于是她提出與費羅會面，便飛到了芝加哥。

他倆在《芝加哥太陽報》的辦公大樓里談了兩個小時。卡普勒回憶道，費羅從脫衣舞娘談到了妓女，又說他認為科技行業的女性應該超前一些，學會通過外表和性別來獲得成功。他對卡普勒又是贊美又是批評，告訴她她很有吸引力，但需要好好打扮一下自己。他讓卡普勒把簡歷發給她，同時別忘了附上照片。

不過在談話期間，費羅也是表現出了一些真知酌見的，并且給卡普勒指了幾條路。最吸引人的，就是費羅表示他可以從中牽線，讓英格索蘭公司與IBM建立合作。費羅還表示，自己也可以給她提供一份工作，這次談話也可以看作一次面試，她可以來當他的員工總監，或者他的私募公司Merrick Ventures的CEO，這兩份工作的薪水都是很高的。他還表示自己喜歡她的長相、履歷以及她守口如瓶的性格，這些都對他的公司有幫助。

第二天，卡普勒將她與費羅見面的情況報告了她當時的經理迪恩·佩爾松。她表示，她從沒想到自己能像這樣子被人同時奉承和羞辱。佩爾松告訴她，費羅不像是那種她會喜歡與之共事的人。他表示：“她似乎意識到了這一點，不過他給出的價碼很誘人，對她來說顯得非常重要。”

這次交集對卡普勒的心理產生了很大的影響。她當時認為，這簡直是她職業生涯最重要的一次會面。“我以前工作的環境都是那些很安全、很好、很有保護性的公司，然而突然之間，有人告訴我，女人應該是……”她的聲音變小了：“雖然聽起來似乎很荒唐，但我想，他說的或許有些道理。”于是她給費羅發去了自己的簡歷，也附上了自己的大頭證件照。

在第一次會面之后，卡普勒與費羅又發了幾封郵件，打了幾次電話，她還邀請費羅擔任她為英格索蘭的領導力峰會組織的一次創新大賽的評委。2015年12月21日，她飛到芝加哥與費羅再次會面，這次她還帶上了佩爾松。她希望由另一位英格索蘭的高管出面，以確保費羅的確適合擔任這次比賽的評委。

會面一開始，費羅就說，他老婆問他為什么圣誕節期間還要待在公司，他則回答他老婆道，顯然是因為他跟卡普勒有一腿嘍！佩爾松回憶道，當時他還順著費羅的玩笑奉承了幾句。“我看到了一些跡象，但沒有阻止，現在想來，我感覺非常難受。”

不過費羅再一次展示了一些真知酌見。比如他建議成立一個單獨的商業實體，將IBM的Watson部門和英格索蘭的恒溫器業務聯合起來。佩爾松建議道，卡普勒可以負責運營這個部門。費羅表示，那樣的話，她需要好好打扮一下自己了。當晚卡普勒打電話給費羅跟進此事，費羅開玩笑道，他花了好大的力氣才控制住自己，沒有在她老板面前性騷擾她。在后來的一次電話中，他們計劃在消費電子展上見面，在此之前，卡普勒需要收集一些恒溫器市場的數據，然后他們再一起充實這個點子。“他還告訴我，既然要去拉斯維加斯，就要穿得應景些。”卡普勒回憶道。

2016年1月5日，也就是卡普勒要起程去拉斯維加斯那天，費羅在晚上6點半給她打來電話，問她人在哪里。但是她的航班延誤了，所以她建議再期再約。費羅則表示，他專程趕到拉斯維加斯與她見面，不想再拖了。飛機起飛前十分鐘，卡普勒給他發了條短信。費羅回短信道，他已經喝了兩輪酒了。飛機降落后，他們又發了幾條短信。卡普勒問現在見面是不是太晚了，費羅則表示他現在正在賭場里，稍后他們可以在他的套房里吃夜宵。

在此之后，費羅給她打了六次電話，問她在哪里、什么時候到。“我一直說，現在太晚了。而他堅持當晚就要見我。”她回憶道，在去酒店的路上，她也覺得有些不對，但最終還是認為自己有能力控制場面。

大約晚上10點半，她到達了費羅所在的Aria酒店，費羅將她接到了自己的套房里。他們一進屋，費羅就調暗了燈光，并且表示，自己等了她這么長時間，作為報答，她必須跟自己喝幾杯。卡普勒并不想告訴他自己已經懷孕9周了，于是她假裝抿了幾口他倒的紅酒。

卡普勒談了談恒溫器市場的情況，費羅問了幾個問題，但明顯心不在焉。他對她的衣著評判了一番，然后問她“有沒有干過壞事”。她回答沒有，然后試圖將話題引回到生意上。這時費羅走到坐在迷你吧臺邊的卡普勒身后，伸臂抱住了她。她掙開了，他又開始揉搓她的肩膀。很快，他又伸臂抱向了她。她再次掙開之后，費羅抓住了她的手。

卡普勒再次想把話題引回到生意上。費羅問她，他們什么時候才能不談生意，好一起做點有趣的事。她告訴費羅，她這趟是為了工作來的，否則她討厭跟家人分開。這時費羅又想摟她，這次他正面抱住了她，問她為什么這么害羞。她對費羅說，他是在侵犯她，而她并不喜歡這樣。

就在這時，客房服務員進來了。手足無措的卡普勒從椅子上站了起來，在迷你吧臺上給自己倒了杯水。突然費羅又跟到了自己身后，伸手摟住了她，將手按在了她的胸部上。卡普勒說到，現在我們有目擊證人了——她指的就是那名服務員。但費羅告訴她，在拉斯維加斯，沒有人會看見任何東西。

卡普勒再次躲開了，這時費羅大概意識到她不會妥協了，于是他開始無視她的存在，甚至在手機上玩起了撲克游戲。費羅告訴她，剛才他的朋友在賭場里問他還回不回來，他答道：“我能玩她，還玩什么撲克？”

接下來他們坐下來一起吃飯。在吃飯的過程中，費羅說道，他一直在幫助卡普勒，沒有索取任何回報。他還表示自己為卡普勒準備了一頓豐盛的宵夜，還點了菜單上最貴的酒。卡普勒不敢激怒費羅，只能唯唯喏喏扮演一個學生的角色。費羅還說，她也不需要真的陪人睡覺，但她也需要學會跟男人調情和“吃雞”。當時，卡普勒覺得自己很難從那個地方離開。“我覺得自己有義務陪他吃這頓飯，他都說了，他沒有向我索取任何回報。”

到了半夜，費羅表示第二天要早起，只能讓她離開了。他還說，希望這周哪天她喝醉了之后給他打電話。卡普勒離開之后，心中暗想，自己永遠也不會把今晚發生的事告訴任何人。

但第二天早上洗澡的時候，她忍不住哭了起來。她給佩爾松發了條短信，告訴他費羅無法參加領導力峰會。佩爾松回短信表示沒問題，并問她現在還好嗎。“我意識到肯定是出事了。”佩爾松表示。卡普勒昏昏沉沉地參觀了消費電子展，唯恐自己又撞見費羅。

回到辦公室那天，她對佩爾松講述起那晚的經歷時，忍不住又哭了起來。“我幾乎說不出口。”她說。之后的幾天，他們商量著如何應對此事。（英格索蘭公司的一位女發言人在聲明中對《財富》表示：“任何形式的性騷擾都與我們的政策和公司價值不符，我們對此是非常嚴肅的。”）

佩爾松給費羅寫了一封信，取消了對他的邀請，并且切斷了與他的聯系。費羅馬上給卡普勒發了一條短信和一條語音消息，說他接到了她老板發來的一封奇怪的信，問她是否一切都好。佩爾松隨后再次致信費羅，告訴他不要再聯絡卡普勒了。此后費羅也確實沒有聯系過她。

四年多過去了，明秀仍能清楚地記起她離開芝加哥的那間公寓時的屈辱感。她說：“這種感覺從來沒有完全停止。”這次經歷讓她開始懷疑自己和自己的判斷。很長一段時間里，她都很難與某種類型的男人建立信任和業務關系。她對參加任何小型私人聚會都很謹慎，盡管她明知很多重要關系和交易就是在那里完成的。卡普勒倒是還保持了交際能力，但她參加完會議后就會徑直返回自己的房間，而不是留下跟別人交際。

明秀表示，與其他女性談及這段經歷，對她是有幫助的，這樣也讓她知道，很多女性也擁有與她類似的遭遇。當時，她并不覺得公開點出費羅的名字是可行的選擇。“四年前，我以為如果我公開暴露他的名字，我就會完全被排除在任何風投家的視線之外。”

她之所以現在改變了心態，是因為她覺得這樣做才是轉變的開始。“要問我是否認為風投界已經充分抵制了潛規則，當然不是。但也有相當一部分投資人在真心致力于解決這個問題，其中一部分投資人還是相當有實力的，而且他們已經開始形成一些實際的影響。”

卡普勒在遭遇費羅之后，內心掙扎了很長時間。她表示，從拉斯維加斯返回的那個周末，她做了惡夢，有一次甚至嚇到了她丈夫。那個周末她大部分時間是在床上度過的，甚至無法照顧自己的兩個孩子。由于羞于讓人見到自己的孕肚，她開始在家里工作。她不想讓自己被人看作一個有性特征的人。

“這件事改變了我的一些。”她表示。像明秀一樣，她也感到羞辱。“如果我看過這樣一部電影，看見有個女人被這樣對待，我可能會說：‘趕緊從那個辦公室離開，不要再給他打電話了。’我覺得這一切都是我自己的錯。”

心理治療和時間漸漸撫平了她的傷痛。她在原公司獲得了升職，最近還接受了一份新工作，在一家新公司負責數字創新。

她現在已經懷上了第四個孩子。“我一直覺得好像還沒準備好，但現在我準備好了，我變得更強大了。”

在拉斯維加斯那件事后一周左右，卡普勒見了一名律師，討論她可以做的選擇。當時她詳細記錄了與費羅的互動，但她擔心此事捅出去，會給她的事業乃至家庭造成負面影響。但現在，她擔心如果自己繼續保持沉默，將會有其他女性遭遇危險。當然，她也不希望大家一提到她，想起的只有這件事。

明秀認為，費羅之所以要做這種事，僅僅是因為他可以。“而我對此則無能為力。有些性騷擾和反女性人格的行為，其實是在提醒女性可以做什么、不可以做什么，其意義其實大于性愛本身。”

而費羅給她的感覺則相當目空一切。“他好像根本不在乎我，也不在乎情況。”明秀表示：“他只是想看我是否愿意跟他睡覺。對我來說，我的公司、我的14名員工，乃至我的整個事業的命運都系在他身上。而對他來說，這些都不值一提。”（財富中文網）

譯者:樸成奎?

Allegations of questionable behavior by Ferro come as little surprise to some who previously worked with him in his media ventures. Fortune spoke with nine former staffers at the magazines Splash and Grid, who were employed by the Sun-Timespublications during Ferro’s ownership of the paper (Ferro ceded control of the Sun-Times in 2016). These former employees say Ferro was heavily involved with both magazines and the encounters they describe with him suggest an uncomfortable workplace for women.

Ferro would regularly make sexual comments about women’s clothing and appearances, the former employees say, telling female staffers they looked “hot” or that he liked it when they wore short skirts. He once grabbed the bottom of a woman’s leg to more closely examine what he described as her “sexy” high heels. And he hired young women as his assistants—dubbed “Ferro’s Angels” by some employees.

Matt Present, the former editor of Grid, says Ferro instructed him to stop assigning the satire column in the back of the magazine to female writers because Ferro didn’t think women were funny. “He operates under the assumption that women are meant to be looked at, that boys will be boys,” says Present.

Ferro has seen his profile rise nationally since taking over as chairman of Tronc in 2016. But in his home city of Chicago he’s long been a force: a mainstay of the startup community, a media gatekeeper, and a regular on the benefit circuit. He has cultivated an image as a player—in every sense of the word. His startup Click occupied the same space in the Palmolive building that once housed Playboy Enterprises, with Ferro holding court in Hugh Hefner’s old office. His mostly all-male birthday parties are an annual fixture of the Chicago gossip pages, drawing boldfaced names including Abbott Laboratories CEO Miles White, former Wrigley CEO Bill “Beau” Wrigley, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Crain’s Chicago Business has reported that actress Jenny McCarthy, a Chicago-area native who Ferro made a Sun-Times columnist, once showed up to sing him happy birthday.

Minshew has told her story twice previously in the media without mentioning Ferro. This is the first time she has named him publicly. Fortune talked to four people close to Minshew, whom she told in the immediate aftermath of her encounter, and reviewed emails in which she relayed the story to investors. In the case of Kappler, Fortune spoke to 12 people to whom she has described her experience with Ferro, including her manager at the time.

Both women’s stories unfold where so much of business and deal-making takes place: that murky area outside the 9-to-5 that includes late-night dinners and after-work drinks. It is an arena that is more difficult to navigate, more complicated, and has fewer rules—and one that, for decades, largely excluded women.

These venues and networks are gradually becoming more inclusive, but while women are now venturing into the rooms where alliances are struck and money is promised, that doesn’t mean they stand on equal ground. Women who infiltrate the old boys network must often weigh a set of questions that would never occur to their male counterparts: How do I respond to that suggestive remark? Could he think this is a date? Does this man really believe in my business—or does he just want to have sex with me?

To reject this treacherous terrain closes women off from so much of what really drives the world of business—connections, mentorship, capital. Yet to enter it opens them up to the possibility of unwanted attention, harassment, and even assault. There is inherent risk no matter the decision. This was the calculation that Minshew and Kappler faced in their encounters with Ferro. Both ended up with their confidence rocked, doubting themselves and their judgment.

Minshew and Kappler have never met but both voiced similar reasons for wanting to come forward with their stories now. “A big piece of it was the realization that people who do this never just do this once,” Minshew says, “and every time it happens to a new person, I could have prevented that.”

Kappler says she’s committed to helping women so they don’t have to experience what she went through. “I didn’t think this could ever happen to someone like me,” she says. “I don’t think people who know me would assume something like this would happen to me.”

The Muse is now an established company, with 50 million annual users and a fundraising total of nearly $30 million. But in 2012 it was just another young startup, and trying, and often failing, to raise relatively small amounts of capital. What Minshew, then 26 years old, really wanted was to be treated—and funded—like a serious entrepreneur.

Michael Ferro, whom she first encountered at a conference in July of that year, seemed to offer just that. Weeks after their chance meeting, Ferro agreed to join the company’s $1.2 million seed round, which also included Great Oaks Ventures, Gordon Crawford, and Cathie Black. He invested $100,000, making him one of The Muse’s largest funders. Minshew, who is based in New York City, says she began making an effort to meet with Ferro whenever she was in Chicago and, at his suggestion, appeared in several of his publications.

In May of 2013, she and Ferro met for lunch while she was in town. Minshew presented him with her current quandary: She was unsatisfied with the funding offers she’d received while attempting to raise a Series A, but she also didn’t want to be acquired. She says Ferro had a solution. Wrapports would invest additional seed money in the company, setting it up to put together a bigger, splashier round later. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, that would be perfect,’ ” she recalls. “In my mind, it was like, this guy really seems to believe in me.”

But the deal, which Ferro was running through Wrapports—one of the two investment firms he’s founded— dragged. Minshew grew increasingly frustrated as the summer months slipped by, all too aware that her company was on track to run out of funding by the end of the year. Finally, Wrapports signed the term sheet, and on Sept. 18, 2013, Minshew flew to Chicago to work out the final details. After the meeting, she called her co-founder Alex Cavoulacos, triumphant: “We’re all set. The deal’s going through.”

Deal done, Minshew says Ferro proposed a plan for the evening: she should join him for drinks with a group of his friends at a nearby restaurant—“He very much made it clear that these are big money guys, power players”—and then the two of them would go to his company’s corporate apartment, where they would order dinner and, as Minshew describes it, “really jam—just get into the business.” Ferro also told Minshew that the apartment would be empty that night, and invited her to stay there, knowing that The Muse was in startup mode, saving money wherever it could.

Walking into the apartment building, Minshew remembers feeling the first pangs of uncertainty. “I thought, ‘Oh man, this looks weird. I’m 27 and I’m with this guy.’” But she reminded herself that she’d met his wife, that he knew she was in a relationship—and that he’d just bet $750,000 on her skill as an entrepreneur. “It’s not weird, it just looks weird,” she told herself. “It’s fine. It’s fine.”

But when they entered the apartment, she says, it quickly became clear to her that it was not, in fact, fine. Minshew recalls looking out at the city skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows when Ferro approached her bearing the glasses of bourbon. That’s when she says he forcefully placed his hand on the back of her head and tried to kiss her.

“My whole world froze,” she says of that moment. “I felt fear—partially for my physical safety, but mostly the fear that if I didn’t handle this encounter exactly perfectly, it would ruin this deal that was so important to the business.”

Minshew pulled away, saying, “I’m a one man at a time kind of girl.” She recalls Ferro stepping back and taking a seat. She says he looked her up and down, saying: “I’m glad I didn’t take you to a restaurant, because people would think we’re sleeping together and we’re not. I’d much rather actually be having sex with you and have no one know it.” But he didn’t try to touch her again.

According to Minshew, Ferro seemed to lose interest in the face of her rejection. He told her that one of the men she’d met at drinks earlier, a prominent Chicago investor, was downstairs and would like to have dinner with her and talk more about The Muse. She jumped at the chance to get out of the apartment.

After dinner, she returned to the now vacant apartment, and once again called her co-founder, this time with very different news: “The deal that was totally on? I don’t know if it’s on.” Worried that the apartment might be bugged or that there could be a hidden camera, she told Cavoulacos that something bad had happened, but didn’t share the full details until she was back in New York the following afternoon. That night, she says she slept in her clothes.

Fortune spoke to Cavoulacos, who confirms the account. We also talked with three other people Minshew told about the encounter in the days and weeks following her trip to Chicago and reviewed emails in which she told at least 13 of the company’s early investors about an incident with a lead investor who made “extremely inappropriate verbal and physical advances.” In one case, Minshew followed up, naming Ferro.

Back in New York, she spent a couple of days in a fog, “completely disassociated from myself.” But with her business in peril, there was no time to fully process what had happened—instead, she and Cavoulacos had to address what were for The Muse a pair of urgent and existential questions: Was Ferro’s money still on the table, and if so, would they need to take it? The co-founders spent hours gaming out possible scenarios, including one where Minshew gave up her apartment and moved onto her co-founders couch. “We made a list of our employees in the order that we would have to let them go,” Minshew says.

They decided to “slow roll” the Wrapports deal and scramble to see if they could find funding elsewhere. Despite the fact that there was a signed term sheet on the line, Wrapports did not appear to object, doing little to move the agreement forward. Minshew and Cavoulacos were able to find replacement investors, raising $750,000 in less than two months. The deal Minshew had flown to Chicago to close quietly evaporated.

In April of 2015, The Muse was preparing for its next round of funding, which required the founders get sign-off from their largest seed investors—including Wrapports. (Wrapports remains an investor in The Muse today.) Cavoulacos made the call, with Minshew in the room. Ferro took the opportunity to raise the specter of the previous deal. “He was like, ‘Yeah, weren’t we going to invest more?’” recalls Minshew. “’Why didn’t that ever happen?’”

This is not how Hagan Kappler was supposed to make her debut in Fortune.

The Williams alumna with an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School had the kind of resume headhunters yearn for: McKinsey, Starbucks, Goldman Sachs, United Technologies. At the age of 37 she was already an executive at Ingersoll Rand, a $14.2 billion global manufacturing multinational.

But then she met Michael Ferro and for a long time after that her life would feel like it had been divided into two—the Hagan Kappler before the night of Jan. 5, 2016, and the one the day after.

The following is Kappler’s account of her interactions with Ferro between September 2015 and January 2016. She recounted the events to her husband, brother, father, and manager in the immediate aftermath of each encounter with Ferro—all of whom spoke to Fortune. She also told at least five close friends, a lawyer, her obstetrician, and a therapist about what she says happened in that Las Vegas hotel suite in varying degrees of detail. All of them also spoke to Fortune.

Kappler first encountered Ferro in September 2015. Ingersoll Rand had tasked Kappler with creating a digital strategy, and her brother, who had interacted with Ferro, suggested they connect. Ferro had just agreed to sell his healthcare startup Merge to IBM for $1 billion and appeared to have good ideas in the realm of what Kappler was trying to build for her company. She asked for a meeting and flew out to Chicago to see Ferro.

Over the course of that initial two-hour meeting in the Chicago Sun-Times building, Kappler says Ferro talked about topics ranging from strippers and prostitutes to his beliefs that women in technology have to get ahead by using their looks and sexuality. He mixed compliments with criticisms, telling her she was attractive but that she also needed a makeover. She says he asked that she send him her resume, and told her that she should always include her photo.

But during the meeting Ferro also had real ideas and leads for Kappler—the most promising being a partnership between Ingersoll Rand and IBM that he said he could broker. Kappler says Ferro also raised the possibility of hiring her himself, and at the end of the meeting he told her that the discussion had been his way of interviewing her to be either his personal chief of staff or the CEO of his private equity firm Merrick Ventures—roles that would come with big salaries. He said he liked her looks, as well as her credentials and that she was buttoned up, something that would help give his operation more credibility.

The next day, Kappler reported back to her then-manager, Dion Persson, telling him that she didn’t know it was possible to be both so flattered and insulted at the same time. Persson remembers telling her that he didn’t seem like the type of guy you want to work with. “She kind of realized that,” he says, “but he was offering so much that it became very important to her.”

The interaction with Ferro left a mark on Kappler—she remembers thinking it was one of the most influential meetings of her career. “I’d been in these very safe, nice companies, protective wonderful places and suddenly I’m thinking I didn’t know that women are supposed to…” she trails off. “It sounds ridiculous, but I thought maybe there was something to that.” She ended up sending Ferro her resume—professional headshot included.

Kappler and Ferro exchanged a few emails and phone calls after that initial meeting, and she invited him to be a judge at an innovation competition she was organizing for Ingersoll Rand’s leadership conference. On Dec. 21, 2015, she flew to Chicago to meet with Ferro again, this time bringing along Persson—Kappler had wanted someone else from Ingersoll Rand to make sure Ferro would be appropriate for the conference.

Ferro started this meeting by saying that his wife had asked why he was going into the office the week of Christmas. Kappler and Persson say he recounted that he had told his wife that obviously it was because he was having an affair with Kappler. Persson told Fortune that some of the references Ferro made during the meeting, including that one, made him cringe. “I saw some of these signs and I didn’t stop it,” Persson says, “and I still feel horrible about it.”

But again Ferro shared some compelling ideas, including creating a separate entity that partnered IBM’s Watson with Ingersoll Rand’s thermostat business. Persson suggested that Kappler run it, and Ferro said in that case she would need a makeover. In a follow up phone call with Kappler the next night, Ferro joked that he had done a good job not sexually harassing her too much in front of her boss. On a later call, they planned to meet up at the Consumer Electronics Show; Kappler would gather data on the thermostat market and together they would flesh out the business idea. “He told me to remember it was Vegas and dress like it,” Kappler recalls.

On Jan. 5, 2016, the day Kappler was scheduled to arrive in Vegas, Kappler says Ferro called her at about 6:30 p.m. and asked where she was. Her flight was delayed, and she suggested that they meet another time. Ferro pushed back, saying he had come to Vegas that day specifically to meet with her and he didn’t want to delay it. Kappler texted him when her plane was about 10 minutes away from wheels up. She says he texted back that she was about two rounds of drinks behind him. They exchanged a few text messages after she landed—Kappler asking if it was too late to meet, Ferro telling her he was in the high roller room and that they should have a late dinner in his suite.

According to Kappler, Ferro called her six times after that, asking where she was and when she would be there. “I kept saying I think it’s too late and he kept insisting he wanted to meet that night,” she says. On the way there, she remembers thinking it didn’t feel right but decided she’d be able power through it.

She arrived at the Aria at around 10:30 p.m. and Ferro met her to head up to his suite. Kappler says Ferro dimmed the lights when they arrived, and that he insisted she have a drink with him since he’d been waiting for her for such a long time. Kappler did not want to tell him that she was nine weeks pregnant, so she pretended to sip a glass of red wine that he poured her from the minibar.

Kappler started to relay some of the details of the thermostat market, and Ferro asked a few questions but didn’t really engage. He commented on her outfit and asked her if she had ever done anything bad—she told him no and tried to get the conversation back to business. That’s when he first came up behind Kappler, who was sitting at the bar, and put his arms around her, she says. She squirmed away and he started rubbing her shoulders. According to Kappler, he soon tried to wrap his arms around her again, and this time after she wriggled free he held onto her hand.

Kappler again tried to get the conversation back on track. She says Ferro asked when they would be done talking about business so they could start having some fun. She told him she had come to work and that she hated being away from her family. Kappler says Ferro tried to embrace her again, this time from the side and asked why she was being shy. She told him he was in her space, and that she didn’t like it.

At that point, room service arrived and, not knowing what else to do, Kappler got up from her chair. She poured herself a glass of water from the bar, and then suddenly Ferro was behind her again. She says he put his arms around her and then his hand was on her breast. She remembers saying that now they had a witness—referring to the man from room service who was setting up the table. Kappler says Ferro told her that no one sees anything in Vegas.

She walked away, and at this point she believes it sunk in for Ferro that she was not going to acquiesce. He started ignoring her and playing poker on his phone. According to Kappler, Ferro told her that his friends down in the high roller room had asked if he was going to come back and that he had told them, “Why would I play poker when I can poke her?”

They sat down to eat, and over dinner Ferro made a point to say he had been helping Kappler and hadn’t asked for anything in return. He added, she says, that he’d ordered her a nice dinner and the nicest bottle of wine on the menu. Kappler remembers trying to keep it light and play the role of the mentee. Kappler says Ferro told her that she didn’t need to sleep with people, but she did need to flirt and “suck dick.” In the moment, she didn’t feel like she could get up and leave. “I felt obligated to have this dinner with him,” she says. “He had made that comment that he had never asked for anything from me.”

At around midnight, Ferro said he had to get up early the next morning and was going to have to kick her out. Kappler says he told her that he hoped she’d be out and drunk later in the week and call him. After she left, she remembers thinking she would never tell anyone about what happened in that hotel suite.

But the next morning in the shower she couldn’t stop crying. She texted Persson and told him Ferro couldn’t go to the leadership conference. Persson wrote back that it was no problem and that he hoped she was alright. “I just knew something had happened,” Persson says. Kappler walked around CES in a daze, afraid that she was going to bump into Ferro.

The day she got back to the office, she cried when she told Persson what had happened. “I could barely spit it out,” she says. In the days after, they strategized what to do. (An Ingersoll Rand spokeswoman said in a statement to Fortune, “Sexual misconduct of any kind is inconsistent with our policies and company values. We take it seriously.”)

Persson wrote a letter to Ferro, disinviting him to the conference and cutting off ties. Ferro immediately sent Kappler a text and left her a voicemail, telling her he had gotten a strange letter from her boss and asking if everything was okay. Persson then followed up with another letter, this time telling Ferro to never contact Kappler again. He never did.

More than four years later, Minshew still vividly recalls the shame and humiliation she felt leaving the Chicago apartment. “Those feelings have not completely stopped,” she admits. The experience led her to doubt herself and question her judgment. For a time, it also compromised her ability to form trusting business relationships with certain types of men. She tends to be cautious about attending small private gatherings—despite knowing that that’s where important networking and dealmaking often gets done. Kappler can relate; when she attends conferences she now heads straight back to her room rather than socialize at happy hours.

Minshew says talking about her experience with other women helped—and revealed just how many women have a similar story. Yet at the time, she didn’t feel like publicly naming Ferro was a real option. “Four years ago, I felt like I would completely be closed out of any venture capital if investors saw me as someone who named names.”

She’s coming forward now because she believes that’s beginning to change. Says Minshew: “Do I think the venture community now is fully embracing this? No. But there is a substantial minority of investors who are genuinely committed to resolving the issue and some of them are powerful enough that they’re starting to have real impact.”

Kappler really struggled after her encounter with Ferro. She says she had nightmares the weekend after she returned from Las Vegas and at one point woke up terrified of her husband. She spent most of the weekend in bed and couldn’t help with her two little kids. She started working from home, ashamed of her pregnant belly. She did not want to be seen as a sexual person.

“It just changed everything for me,” she says. Like Minshew, she felt shame. “If I had been watching this movie and seeing this woman being treated like this, I would have been like, ‘Get out of that office. Don’t call him back,’ ” she says. “I felt like it was my fault.”

Therapy helped Kappler, and so did time. She moved up the ranks at work and recently accepted a job to run digital innovation at a new company.

She’s now pregnant with her fourth child. “I just felt like I was unprepared for the situation, and now I’m prepared,” she says. “I’m stronger now.”

Kappler met with a lawyer a week after the Las Vegas meeting to discuss her options—the point when she started documenting her encounters with Ferro in detail—but she worried about the ramifications for her career and family of speaking out. Now she also fears that staying silent will put other women at risk. And yet she does not want this to be all she is known for in her career, she says.

Minshew thinks that Ferro did what he did simply because he could. “And I couldn’t really do anything about it,” she says. “There are some acts of misogyny and harassment that are just as much about reminding women what they can and can’t do than they are about sex.”

To her it felt incredibly cavalier. “Like he didn’t even care so much about me or about the situation,” says Minshew. “He was just going to see if I would have sex with him. But it was my company and the fate of 14 employees or so was hanging in the balance, as well as my career to some extent. And to him it was just worth a pass.”