The California Democratic Party has spent in excess of $800,000 as a result of several sexual misconduct lawsuits targeting its former state chair, Eric Bauman, ABC reports.
The party has spent “$430,000 in attorney fees,” with an additional “$378,348 in legal settlements” as a result of three different cases, amounting to $808,348 total.
Although Bauman has denied all of the allegations against him, he was forced to resign as party chair last year. The lawsuits claim that multiple acts of sexual misconduct by Bauman were “well-known and apparently tolerated” by the rest of the party, while the party responded with a denial, saying that one of its top values is “treating people fairly.”
In addition to these first three cases, two more cases against Bauman and the California Democratic Party are “pending.”