A federal judge in California denied Rohan Marley’s motion to have his $18 million sexual harassment case dismissed.
Former worker Chloe Villano, 34, sued Marley and his business, Shashamane Group, in June of last year, claiming that she was fired wrongfully and subjected to sexual harassment for quid pro quo. Marley submitted a move to have the charges dismissed in August of 2023.
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Based on the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Judge Otis D. Wright II decided last month that Villano’s claims of harassment and a hostile work environment could proceed to trial. However, he rejected the claim of wrongful termination because the decision to fire her was made outside of California.
The judge also turned down Marley’s plea to have the lawsuit transferred to Florida, where he currently resides, according to an eighteen-page court decision.
51-year-old Rohan is the fourth of reggae musician Bob Marley’s sons. Janet Hunt is his mom.
One day before Bob Marley: One Love opened in theaters, on February 13, Villano used the occasion to address the case in a statement.
“I have experienced significant personal and professional losses due to the abuse, harassment, and discrimination I suffered at the hands of Rohan Marley and his associates,” she stated.
Villano noted, “This legal battle is not just about one woman’s struggle but reflects a broader issue of women’s treatment in the workplace, especially in male-dominated industries. In the upcoming trial, I seek justice for myself but this case also represents a stand against the mistreatment of women in the workplace.”
The case is scheduled for a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on March 25, 2025. January 3, 2024, saw the judge’s order on the request to dismiss, which permits Villano to move forward with discovery and take Marley and his Shashamane partners’ depositions.
She is requesting further punitive damages, legal expenses, and at least $6.25 million for each of the remaining claims.
Rohan had charged Villano with exploiting the Marley brand through the lawsuit last year.
He noted in a statement, “This lawsuit is without merit, and I intend to vigorously defend myself in court. I will not let any person take advantage of me and exploit my family’s name.”
The statement further mentioned, “The allegation that Chloe Villano was terminated for any illegal reason could not be further from the truth. We are confident Ms. Villano’s claims will be dismissed out of California and, most importantly, will be dismissed on the merits due to of the wealth of evidence we possess demonstrating Ms. Villano’s desire to continue working with me months after she voluntarily resigned in writing as our Company’s CEO.”
The case is scheduled for a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on March 25, 2025. January 3, 2024, saw the judge’s order on the request to dismiss, which permits Villano to move forward with discovery and take Marley and his Shashamane partners’ depositions.
For every one of the remaining claims, she is requesting at least $6.25 million in addition to extra civil penalties and legal costs.
Villano was allegedly employed by Rohan last year to “exploit” the Marley name through the lawsuit.
She claimed that “the boys” received accolades on several occasions, but she “was treated horribly and was constantly disrespected in front of all the boys.”
“Rohan Marley was verbally abusive and denigrating to Plaintiff on a constant basis and spoke disrespectfully to her in meetings… When Plaintiff pushed back on the sexist and disrespectful statements and the hostile work environment created by Defendant Marley, he told her in front of others, ‘I can speak to you this way because I am f-cking you,’” her suit noted.
Villano also stated that Rohan, acting as her “supervisor,” would occasionally contact her and say: “are you f-cking anybody? Because if you are, you’re going to f-ck this up for yourself”.
She cited Rohan’s sexism and disdain, as well as the toxic work atmosphere he fostered, and the other members of Shashamane, such as General Counsel/COO John Zidziunas, “devalued her work, attempted to give credit for her hard work to its male members, and conspired to terminate” her prior to the vesting of her stock in the company.
According to the report, Villano protested about being singled out for termination or divorce due to her gender, but Marley “shockingly” offered her “a classic quid pro quo proposition,” saying he would step in and defend her if she agreed to refrain from having sex with any other males.
“On or about March 21, 2022, Defendant Marley warned Plaintiff that if she was having sex with any other men, it would “f-ck things up” for her at the company. Plaintiff refused to confirm to Defendant Marley in this conversation that she would accede to his Neanderthalic demands. The very next day, Defendants formally severed Plaintiff’s employment with Defendant Shashamane,” The lawsuit asserted.
It further said that “on or about December 21, 2021, Villano had a conversation with Rohan, “after he had announced that he was having a new baby (which Plaintiff understood to be his fourth baby with different women in a span of approximately one or two years) and Plaintiff told him that she was ‘not a concubine.’”
“Plaintiff told Defendant Marley that she respected him, but she wanted to find true love and she was an honest and very hard-working employee,” it stated.
In their official response, dated January 17, 2024, Marley and his business refuted every accusation made by Villano.
They had maintained that Villano’s failure to carry out her responsibilities as CEO of Shashamane, despite her “touted credentials” in the cannabis market, caused interruptions in business operations and ultimately resulted in her departure.
“She disrupted business, repeatedly lied, produced zero results for the company, tried to save face by resigning under the pretense that she “never wanted” to be the CEO, and then refused to civilly engage with Shashamane’s members or continue providing service of any services to the company,” they noted. “As a result, the Management Board terminated her membership.”
They further noted: “Unable to acknowledge her failure, [Villano] now seeks to leverage flirtatious and sexual telephone communications she willfully and consensually initiated with Mr. Marley—including communications where she sent him nudes and asked about his interest in having a baby with her—into claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.”
Having previously played college football, Marley was married to Geraldine Khawly, with whom he had two children. In 1996, they were divorced.
Between 1996 and 2009, he had a romantic connection with singer Lauryn Hill. Together, they have five kids.
Brazil’s Barbara Fialho, a model, and Rohan were married in 2019. They had a kid together; however, they are said to have divorced in 2020.
