WiseTech billionaire Richard White reaches settlement with third woman
Instead, he supported her financially, paid for her English lessons and rented her an apartment in Mascot, south of Sydney’s CBD.
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Heidemann claims that White’s conduct “was calculated and premeditated” and that he subjected her to “degrading treatment” by attaching her financial security and immigration status to his “sexual demands”.
In October, White separately settled with Sydney wellness entrepreneur Linda Rogan. The year-long stoush between White and Rogan spilled into the open in October after the businessman served a bankruptcy notice on her, and she applied to have it rejected. Rogan alleged White had expected her to have sex with him in exchange for an investment in her business.
White was forced to resign as chief executive and from the board of the logistics platform company in October after a joint investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Financial Review revealed a $2 million settlement with a former lover and allegations of bullying and intimidation by a former director.
The revelations prompted the WiseTech board to commission a review to examine the allegations of inappropriate conduct made by women against White. Preliminary findings of the review cleared White in November.
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However, this masthead reported in February that two women – one an employee and the other a contractor – had complained to the company about his conduct.
The impasse over the release of the report, along with White’s continuing role at WiseTech, led to the dramatic resignation of four independent directors in February. The billionaire controls 36 per cent of WiseTech’s share register and manoeuvred a return to the company as executive chairman in February two days after the board exodus.
The final report was authored by Seyfarth Shaw and Herbert Smith Freehills and was only partially released last month. It found White misled the company over his relationship with employees, but the new WiseTech board, made up of the founder’s allies, took no action against him.
