Dan Price, Former CEO of Gravity Payments, Charged With Rape

The former chief of Gravity Payments rose to prominence with the introduction of his company’s $70,000 minimum salary and a splashy social media presence.

Dan Cost, a Seattle tech official who rose to popularity for freely raising the compensations of his workers and as a dynamic social media influencer, was charged with assault on Thursday in Riverside Province, Calif., concurring to court records.

Mr. Cost, 40, was prosecuted final month by a fantastic jury on a charge of assault of an oblivious casualty, concurring to Riverside Predominant Court records unlocked on Thursday. Mr. Cost, who intentionally showed up in court and posted $55,000 in safeguard on Thursday, is planned to be arraigned in January, agreeing to the documents.

The arraignment stems from an occurrence in 2021 when, a sweetheart said, Mr. Cost assaulted her at the Pro Lodging in Palm Springs, Calif., after she had said she did not need to have sex, took a cannabis eatable and went to rest. The lady, Kacie Margis, detailed the occurrence to the police the another day. She went open with her story in 2022 as portion of a Modern York Times examination that found that Mr. Cost had more than once utilized his acclaim to empower a design of mishandle in his individual life and threatening behavior at his company.

Mr. Cost denied the claims, but ventured down as chief official of his company, Gravity Installments, to “focus full time on battling wrong charges made approximately me.”

“As I said when these wrong charges were detailed over two a long time back, I have never physically or sexually manhandled anyone,” Mr. Cost said in a explanation given by his attorney, Vicki Podberesky. He said he would battle the charge.

Ms. Podberesky said, “Nothing has changed in the two a long time since these affirmations were to begin with detailed: There is no valid prove to bolster this allegation, and Mr. Cost categorically denies that he sexually attacked anyone.” She said they were certain that he would be cleared of wrongdoing.

She included that the locale lawyer had made courses of action to permit Mr. Cost to show up intentionally in court, without an arrest.

The Riverside District locale attorney’s office declined to comment.

Ms. Margis declined to comment. She as of late composed on Instagram approximately holding up for equity, saying, “I’ve got a voice for telling the truth and no one else is going to quiet me.”

Mr. Cost earned worldwide consideration in 2015 when he raised the pay of his representatives at Gravity Installments, which forms credit card exchanges, to a least of $70,000, mostly through decreasing his claim compensation. He showed up in The Times, on “Good Morning America” and on the cover of magazines.

He misplaced favor for a time after Bloomberg Businessweek detailed that his story almost the pay raise had striking gaps and that his previous spouse had said in a TEDx conversation that he had mishandled her, which he too denied.

After lying moo for a few a long time, Mr. Cost started building a taking after on social media around 2019, railing against corporate malfeasance, out-of-control official pay and sexual orientation disparity. Numerous of the ladies who went open in The Times with their stories said they had met him online or had been drawn in by his dynamic thoughts and influence.

In 2022, the area attorney’s office in Seattle charged Mr. Cost with misdemeanor rash driving and attack with sexual inspiration in an occurrence including another lady, but dropped the case the following year, citing deficiently proof.

This May, Mr. Cost reported on social media that he had returned to his company. In later months he has continued his dynamic posts on LinkedIn and X.

Ms. Podberesky, Mr. Price’s attorney, has worked on a few high-profile cases in Los Angeles. She spoken to the Church of Scientology in things related to the assault case against the “That ’70s Show” on-screen character Danny Masterson, who was sentenced to 30 a long time to life in jail.