The details of Trump’s next round of import taxes are still sketchy. Most economic analyses say average U.S. families would have to absorb the cost of his tariffs in the form of higher prices and lower incomes. But an undeterred Trump is inviting CEOs to the White House to say they are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in new projects to avoid the import taxes.
It is also possible that the tariffs are short-lived if Trump feels he can cut a deal after imposing them.
“I’m certainly open to it, if we can do something,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll get something for it.”
At stake are family budgets, America’s prominence as the world’s leading financial power and the structure of the global economy.
Here’s what you should know about the impending trade penalties:
What exactly does Trump plan to do?
He wants to announce import taxes, including “reciprocal” tariffs that would match the rates charged by other countries and account for other subsidies. Trump has talked about taxing the European Union, South Korea, Brazil and India, among other countries.
As he announced 25% auto tariffs last week, he alleged that America has been ripped off because it imports more goods than it exports.
“This is the beginning of Liberation Day in America,” Trump said. “We’re going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they’ve been taking over the years. They’ve taken so much out of our country, friend and foe. And, frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.”
In an interview Saturday with NBC News, Trump said it did not bother him if tariffs caused vehicle prices to rise because autos with more U.S. content could possibly be more competitively priced.
“I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars,” Trump said. “I couldn’t care less because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars.”
Trump has also suggested that he will be flexible with his tariffs, saying he will treat other nations better than they treated the United States. But he still has plenty of other taxes coming on imports.
The Republican president plans to tax imported pharmaceutical drugs, copper and lumber. He has put forth a 25% tariff on any country that imports oil from Venezuela, even though the United States also does so. Imports from China are being charged an additional 20% tax because of its role in fentanyl production. Trump has imposed separate tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico for the stated reason of stopping drug smuggling and illegal immigration. Trump also expanded his 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs to 25% on all imports.
Some aides suggest the tariffs are tools for negotiation on trade and border security; others say the revenues will help reduce the federal budget deficit. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says they will force other nations to show Trump “respect.”
What could tariffs do to the US economy?
Nothing good, according to most economists. They say the tariffs would get passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices for autos, groceries, housing and other goods. Corporate profits could be lower and growth more sluggish. Trump maintains that more companies would open factories to avoid the taxes, though that process could take three years or more.
Economist Art Laffer estimates the tariffs on autos, if fully implemented, could increase per vehicle costs by $4,711, though he said he views Trump as a smart and savvy negotiator. The investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates the economy will grow this quarter at an annual rate of just 0.6%, down from a rate of 2.4% at the end of last year.
Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus, Ohio, said on Friday that tariffs could increase the median cost of a home by $21,000, making affordability more of an obstacle because building materials would cost more.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has suggested that tariffs would be a one-time price adjustment, rather than the start of an inflationary spiral. But Bessent’s conclusion rests on tariffs being brief or contained, rather than leading other countries to retaliate with their own tariffs or seeping into other sectors of the economy.
“There is a chance tariffs on goods begin to filter through to the pricing of services,” said Samuel Rines, a strategist at WisdomTree. “Auto parts get move expensive, then auto repair gets more expensive, then auto insurance feels the pressure. While goods are the focus, tariffs could have a longer-term effect on inflation.”
How are other nations thinking about the new tariffs?
Most foreign leaders see the tariffs as destructive for the global economy, even if they are prepared to impose their own countermeasures.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump’s tariff threats had ended the partnership between his country and the United States, even as the president on Friday talked about his phone call with Carney in relatively positive terms. Canada already has announced retaliatory tariffs.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the tariffs were “not coherent” and would mean “breaking value chains, creating inflation in the short term and destroying jobs. It’s not good for the American economy, nor for the European, Canadian or Mexican economies.” Yet Macron said his nation would defend itself with the goal of dismantling the tariffs.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has avoided the tit-for-tat responses on tariffs, but she sees it as critical to defend jobs in her country.
The Chinese government said Trump’s tariffs would harm the global trading system and would not fix the economic challenges identified by Trump.
“There are no winners in trade wars or tariff wars, and no country’s development and prosperity are achieved through imposing tariffs,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.
How did Trump land on it being called ‘Liberation Day’?
Based off Trump’s public statements, April 2 is at least the third “liberation day” that he has identified.
At a rally last year in Nevada, he said the day of the presidential election, Nov. 5, would be “Liberation Day in America.” He later gave his inauguration the same label, declaring in his address: “For American citizens, Jan. 20, 2025, is Liberation Day.”
His repeated designation of the term is a sign of just how much importance Trump places on tariffs, an obsession of his since the 1980s. Dozens of other countries recognize their own form of liberation days to recognize events such as overcoming Nazi Germany or the end of a previous political regime deemed oppressive.
Trump sees his tariffs as providing national redemption, but the slumping consumer confidence and stock market indicate that much of the public believes the U.S. economy will pay the price for his ambitions.
“I don’t see anything positive about Liberation Day,” said Phillip Braun, a finance professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “It’s going to hurt the U.S. economy. Other countries are going to retaliate.”
President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries this week and that will result in significant price shocks to U.S. consumers, economists and analysts say. Everything from clothes to iPhones to homes to cars could be impacted—not to mention retirement accounts as result of a meltdown in the stock market. (Scroll down to see the list).
The Yale Budget Lab estimates that the average U.S. household will pay $3,800 more annually as a result of levies announced this week and earlier in the year, which include a 10% universal tariff along with specific additional tariffs for 60 countries that face higher rates under an unusual formula. These come in addition to earlier tariffs placed on Canada, China, Mexico, automobiles, and steel and aluminum tariffs. The U.S. economy at large could lose $100 billion to $180 billion annually.
The right-leaning Tax Foundation says the tariffs are the largest tax increase on Americans consumers since the 1980s. “You can view it as a tax on consumers,” said Ashish Shah, chief investment officer of public investing at Goldman Sachs, at a media event Thursday. Consumers are “going to bear the cost of higher goods.”
It’s too soon to know exactly how the tariffs, which are taxes on goods imported from other countries, will affect prices, or even what the final rates will end up being. Trump has left the door open to negotiations. But here are some financial analysts and economists predictions for price increases as things stand now.
1. Groceries
The high price of eggs was a salient issue during the presidential election, and Trump said he would bring down prices on day one of his presidency. With the announced tariffs, not only will prices not drop, but the cost of many other perishable groceries will likely increase before the end of the month, experts say. Around 15% of the U.S.’s overall food supply is imported, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Prices for produce like avocados, bananas, grapes, and melons are all expected to rise, as are the prices for items including beef, cheese, chocolate, coffee, olive oil, seafood, and more. Fresh produce is expected to see a higher increase, according to the Yale Budget Lab.
2. Cars
Even without Trump’s tariffs, car prices have spiraled so high as to be unaffordable for many. The average price for a new car hit $49,500 in Q1 2025, according to CarGurus. Meanwhile, new vehicles priced under $30,000 accounted for just 13% of inventory, compared to 37% in Q1 2020.
With tariffs, the average list price could increase by over $3,300 to approximately $52,800, according to a CarGurus analysis. Meanwhile, the share of listings priced under $30,000 would decline even more, while vehicles priced above $50,000 would increase by 15%. The Yale Budget Lab puts the average expected increase even higher, at $4,000.
“I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American cars,” Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker last week.
Even used cars aren’t immune. The tariffs will likely increase repair costs, because many components are sourced from other countries.
3. Homes
Homes, already historically expensive and priced out of reach for many buyers, would rise dramatically under universal tariffs—builders estimate the average home cost could increase by $9,200, according to the March 2025 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.
That’s because many of the supplies used to build homes are imported from other countries. For example, the U.S. imported 11.8 billion board feet of softwood lumber from Canada in 2024, which is a primary component in home building, according to the NAHB.
NAHB also notes that the cost of many other components of homes, including appliances, will increase. “NAHB estimates that approximately 7.3% of all goods used in new residential construction originated from a foreign nation in 2024.”
While Trump has said the goal is for companies to produce more goods and items domestically, experts say doing so will take years—if not decades. And there are many items that the U.S. simply cannot get or produce domestically, like all of that Canadian lumber.
“NAHB has urged the president to reconsider his directive to impose tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese goods, given the long lead time and significant production capacity needed to create additional domestic supply,” the organization says.
4. Clothing
The tariffs “disproportionately affect clothing and textiles, with apparel prices rising 17% under all tariffs,” according to the Yale Budget Lab.
Leather products and apparel are expected to increase 18.3% and 16.9%, respectively, overall, according to the Yale Budget Lab.
5. Alcohol
Booze prices are likely to increase since the U.S. imports large amounts of wine from countries in the European Union, Australia and New Zealand. It also imports beer from Canada, Mexico and Europe.
As with other items in the list, the scope of the price increases will depend on the producers, what country they are being imported from, and how much of the cost increase they pass onto U.S. consumers. This includes at restaurants and bars—consumers’ nights out just got more expensive.
6. iPhones and other technology
Apple produces most iPhones in China, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. The “reciprocal” tariff placed on the country will send the cost sky-rocketing by as much as 43%, according to analysts. Other Apple products—including iPads, Apple Watches, and Airpods—will face similar increases.
Apple isn’t the only tech company that will be hard hit. Most rely on products from countries like Taiwan, Vietnam, and China. Those countries have been hit with tariffs of 32%, 34%, and 46%, respectively.
Tariffs won’t affect everyone equally
Experts say low-income families will feel the cost of the increases more acutely than other socioeconomic groups, as the price of basics like food and clothing rise.
“Tariffs burden households at the bottom of the income ladder more than those at the top as a share of income,” Yale’s Budget Lab notes.
Historically, tariffs have resulted in higher prices and reduced quantities of goods and services for business and consumers, according to the Tax Foundation. That has resulted in lower income, reduced employment, and lower economic output in the past.
Philip Moyer says his stint at Amazonwas one of the most impactful of his career, in part due to the company’s emphasis on customers over shareholders.
While he most recently led Google’s applied AI engineering team, his career included a 15-year stint as a general manager in sales and technology at Microsoft and two years at Amazon’s financial services. The latter experience was the most “instructive,” he admits, and it centered around a unique policy against using adverbs.
But the reason is more logical than you may think.
“When we would write press releases, we weren’t allowed to use adverbs,” Moyer tells Fortune. “We had to actually not talk about the features of our products. But instead, the problems we were solving for customers, and I would tell you that it was a really instructional reset in the language that I had to use.”
Corporate speak can cause companies to ‘lose their way’
Amazon has long been known for its unique leadership practices, such as a “two pizza rule” that defines small team size, as well as 16 principles like “bias for action” and “disagree and commit.” However, the company’s emphasis on customer value—versus shareholder value—is what most impressed Moyer. A failure to focus on the customer can be “one of the most dangerous things” for a company, he says.
“When they bring in outside consulting organizations, they talk in corporate speak, or they talk in terms of numbers as opposed to problems and people, I think that’s when companies lose their way,” Moyer adds.
He’s brought his lessons with him in his new role as chief executive at Vimeo. While the video-sharing platform was heading down a path of decline last year, Vimeo is now on track for double-digit growth by the end of the year, Moyer says.
How to get ahead in the business world, according to Vimeo’s CEO
As now the leader of an $800 million company, Moyer learned many of his lessons the hard way, and he has advice for future business leaders:
“First and foremost, do not be anxious,” Moyer says. “They’re going to do amazing as long as they do the work.”
He also adds that it’s important to remember that despite any perception, no enterprise is created as easily as you may think.
“Every company, every great AI unicorn, any company I’ve ever worked for was never the overnight success that it appears in the press release. It’s always a 10-year journey,” he says.
Take OpenAI, for example—one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. The artificial intelligence startup did not explode in popularity until 2023, thanks in part to its success with ChatGPT. However, OpenAI was founded in late 2015, and its visionaries, like Sam Altman, were likely working on the concept years prior.
Those who are willing to put in the hard work, even when it may go unnoticed at first, will come out ahead on the other side, Moyer adds.
“You can do a lot of work in the dark—a lot of work that people don’t see—but as long as you’re doing the work, you ultimately will be successful in the thing that you’re working on.”
Headcount at the world’s largest real estate brokerage is shrinking, and two lawsuits claiming sexual assaults inside the company may offer clues as to why
eXp Realty was a real-estate juggernaut that swelled to more than 80,000 agents based on a revenue-share plan that paid each staffer for bringing in new agents. But a short-seller tells Fortune he believes the company is a multi-level marketing operation—and three academics told Fortune they agree. eXp denies this and says its structure is an innovative way to reward successful brokers. Founder Glenn Sanford has stepped back from the spotlight after a pair of sexual misconduct lawsuits, reviewed by Fortune, alleged he knew women were being drugged and assaulted inside the company and did little to prevent it. eXp denies the allegations against its leadership and claims the alleged assaults by independent real estate agents were handled with seriousness once the accusers brought it to its attention.
eXp Realty founder Glenn Sanford built the largest independent real estate brokerage in the world, with about 83,000 agents, by promising to share the company’s revenue with his staff. But a decline in agents on his watch for the first time ever suggests the revenue-sharing model that put eXp Realty on the map might now be slowly eroding it from within, Fortune has learned after interviews with a former employee and a short seller, and after reviewing two lawsuits filed against the company.
To complicate matters, the two ongoing lawsuits claim Sanford knew some of his agents were sexually assaulting their peers but did little about it in order to protect the revenues those agents were earning. Those suits, which allege sexual battery, claim eXp is essentially two parallel businesses. One is a traditional real estate brokerage that earns commissions from selling property. The other is a pyramid-style scheme, whose fortunes are dependent on agents recruiting other agents, both suits claim. The company and the accused men deny the claims.
The two lawsuits describe eXp’s compensation structure—where agents get paid for bringing in more agents, and get a cut of their earnings—as a “multi-level marketing real estate company” and a “multi-level marketing revenue share plan pyramid.”
The number of agents and brokers at eXp declined by 5% in 2024, following a 1.8% quarter-over-quarter decrease reported in the fourth quarter of 2023. eXp’s revenue is closely tied to the number of agents it has because its sales are generated by commissions on real estate transactions conducted by its agents. The company’s growth tends to correlate to the growth of its agent and broker base.
That raises an obvious question: Can eXp sustain itself if its agent headcount is in decline?
Some people are betting it won’t.
Bradley Safalow, founder and chief executive of investment services firm PAA Research, placed a short bet against the stock in September 2020; he would not disclose the size of his position. “There is one universal truth about a multi-level marketing company, which eXp is,” Safalow told Fortune, “if you don’t bring people in at the bottom of the pyramid, the whole thing kind of unravels.”
Three academics—Harvard Business School professor Lauren Cohen, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School professor Shubhranshu Singh, and Hamline University economics professor Stacie Bosley—told Fortune they believed eXp is a multi-level marketing operation. They pointed to its revenue-sharing compensation structure, which they said aligns with the definition of multi-level marketing because it incentivizes agents to recruit more agents and it enables top-tier agents to earn revenue share on transactions made by those below them, one professor explained.
The company denies it is a multi-level marketing operation. “eXp Realty is not a traditional multi-level marketing company; it operates as a real estate brokerage where agents earn direct commissions on property sales,” the company told Fortune in a statement. “Since Glenn Sanford introduced this innovative model, it has proven its viability and sustainability in the market, leading to its adoption by new entrants in the industry.”
A changing of the guard
Sanford, a 58-year-old who ran a successful real estate team at Keller Williams for three years before leaving and founding eXp Realty under a holding company in 2009, named it after the prefixes for “excellence” and “experienced.” He called it “the agent-owned cloud brokerage” because it was all-virtual and supposed to be better for agents.
The brokerage gained traction. It had 25 agents in 2009, but 10 years later, it had 23,000. At the end of 2022, the number was a staggering 86,203.
Shares of eXp have been on a wild ride. After trading at $77 in 2021, they are currently just under $9.50, giving eXp a market capitalization of $1.44 billion.
Sanford and his ex-wife previously controlled around 45% of the company between them. From 2017 to 2025, Sanford and his ex-wife agreed to vote as one, but after Fortune asked eXp for comment about their combined 45% stake, the two severed their agreement. The end of the agreement “had been an ongoing discussion and consideration prior to receiving your request for comment,” the company told Fortune.
Sanford sold some 1.6 million shares from the start of 2024 through late February 2025, for a value of $21 million, according to an examination of the company’s disclosures by Michael Taylor, a research associate for Washington Service, a data provider, and a calculation by Fortune. Sanford still personally controls approximately 26% of the outstanding stock.
A year ago, Sanford appointed a new chief executive for the brokerage, Leo Pareja, and stepped back from the day-to-day business. Sanford remains chairman and CEO of the parent company, eXp World Holdings. Pareja, notably, has no ties to the accusations of misconduct of years past. “Sanford’s decision to step down as CEO of eXp Realty was not related to any misconduct claims,” the company said.
The company declined to make Sanford available for an interview, but in a statement to Fortune said: “eXp Realty has a strong leadership team, with Glenn Sanford providing vision and innovation as founder and CEO of eXp World Holdings, while Leo Pareja drives operational excellence and agent-centric growth as CEO of eXp Realty. Their complementary roles strengthen eXp’s commitment to delivering value to agents, brokers, and staff.”
In an email to Fortune, Pareja, on behalf of eXp, shared the same response.
‘Growth over everything’
eXp officially describes Sanford as a forward-thinking, innovative entrepreneur, focused on the big picture. He once tried to launch an Uber Eats-like food delivery service years before the market was ready for it, according to the company website. eXp under Sanford purchased Success Enterprises, and its magazine, because real estate and personal development go hand in hand, the acquisition announcement suggested. Billionaires and celebrities, such as Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, have graced its glossy covers. Sanford himself was on the cover once. “The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” the site claims is a phrase he lives by.
There is one aspect of the business that Sanford has always focused on: agent count, according to Safalow, the short bettor. As agent headcount grew into the tens of thousands over the years, eXp’s revenue ballooned along with it. Now, agent count is in decline. That might threaten topline sales, if the company really is a multi-level marketing scheme—as the sexual misconduct lawsuits claim and Safalow claims.
eXp claims its revenue share plan is a “competitive differentiator” that has disrupted the residential real estate brokerage model, and allows agents to make more money by bringing other agents into the fold at eXp. That self-perpetuating recruitment mechanism helped fuel eXp’s rapid rise. But the company claims improved productivity per agent offsets the decline in agent count.
A high-level employee who worked at eXp for six years before leaving to become a competitor said Sanford was keen on besting his rivals and climbing to the top. “It was growth over everything,” said Erinn Nobel, a 25-year real estate veteran and founder and president of ENRG.realty. “He wanted to be the biggest and the best.”
The revenue share plan
At the heart of eXp is the revenue-share program. The brokerage states, “eXp Realty is committed to sharing 50 percent of the company dollar with the agents who help the company grow.”
The plan functions as a recruitment and retention tool: agents benefit from bringing in other agents and becoming their sponsor. Every time a sponsee agent closes a sale, the person who brought them into the company receives a cut of their commission. There are seven tiers that dictate what percentage is shared to whom. Agents sponsoring other agents can earn 17.5% of a revenue share pool from sales in tier-one transactions, for example. More tiers and earnings are unlocked the more agents you sponsor, and the more agents your sponsee sponsors.
In 2024, eXp claimed it paid its agents $220 million through revenue share and equity benefits; that year, it made $4.6 billion in revenues. In 2023, it was $230 million through revenue share and equity benefits, and the company reported $4.3 billion in revenues.
When Safalow first delved into eXp more than four years ago, he recognized a “stunning achievement”—its growth. No one had ever seen agent-count soar as high. Still, he saw red flags. Nothing about its technology, advertising strategies, or commission structure was proprietary to the company—so Safalow shorted the stock, betting its price would go down.
“I just think he’s really focused on growing this business with agent count,” said Safalow, referring to Sanford. Agent count seemed to be more important to the company than the cyclical nature of real estate, or the way interest rates, or supply and demand affect the market, Safalow said.
In a statement to Fortune, eXp said its revenue-sharing model helped incentivize growth. As for the reduction in headcount, the company states it occurred to “off-board less productive agents.”
“eXp operates a real estate brokerage model that is healthy, successful, and remains one of the top-performing companies in our industry. eXp real estate agents are independent professionals who use the eXp brand and services. Our entrepreneurial agents seek to attract other serious and productive professionals, committing to provide support and assistance to those professionals throughout the course of their career with eXp Realty. Similar to other revenue/profit sharing companies, eXp offers a generous revenue sharing program, which incentivizes company growth and also helps agents build for their retirement,” the company said.
A ‘sunset cruise’—and an alleged assault
In two separate lawsuits, filed in the U.S. District Court in California, in February 2023 and December 2023, five women allege they were drugged and sexually assaulted. Two male former real estate agents who were sponsors to some of the women are named in the lawsuits, but the accusations include others. The women claim the company ignored the incidents.
One woman claimed that during a conference in Puerto Vallarta in 2020, which included a booze-soaked “sunset cruise” from Banderas Bay to Las Caletas, she met a couple: David Golden, an agent, and his girlfriend Emily Keenan. Keenan gave her a pill and told her it was Adderall, the suit claims. She blacked out and has no memory of the rest of the evening. The next day, her lawsuit claims, she met Keenan and Golden and again became intoxicated after the two offered her a drink. She claims she was sexually assaulted by both of them while incapacitated.
Another woman, according to the complaint that cites a police report, alleged she discovered other women were drugged and sexually assaulted after attending recruiting events.
A third woman claims that, at an industry event at the Pelican Hill Hotel in California in 2018, she had a single cocktail with Michael Bjorkman, an agent, at the hotel bar. She remembers nothing until the next morning when she awoke naked in Bjorkman’s hotel room, her lawsuit claims, where he and another woman were in the other bed naked. Another man was on the floor; he was clothed.
Bjorkman was arrested on charges of two counts of sexual assault in Miami-Dade County in 2021. Bjorkman denied the charges and the case was later dismissed. Golden was Bjorkman’s sponsor agent, according to the two complaints. Both Golden and Bjorkman are named as defendants in both suits.
During an earnings call in November 2023, before the New York Times published an investigation uncovering the lawsuits, Sanford referred to the two men as “bad actors.” Speaking through an avatar of himself on a video, Sanford announced the accused men had been fired and defended the company’s handling of the situation.
“Mr. Bjorkman previously successfully defended himself, and we are litigating in court against these pending allegations. Mr. Bjorkman continues to fight for full vindication,” attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in a statement to Fortune.
Golden’s attorney, Peter Levine, said in a statement: “Mr. Golden respects the legal process and looks forward to clearing his name in court. He unequivocally condemns sexual assault and exploitation and remains confident that when all the evidence emerges, he will prevail at trial.”
Sanford Passman, an attorney for Keenan, told Fortune, “the plaintiff does not have a case against my client.” Passman filed a motion to dismiss, but the judge has not ruled on it.
The company said: “We take our responsibility to foster a safe and inclusive environment very seriously. eXp Realty has zero tolerance for abuse, harassment, or misconduct of any kind—including by the independent real estate agents who use our services. The claims in this case stem from alleged assaults by independent real estate agents who were never eXp employees—which we handled with speed, seriousness, and deep respect as soon as the accusers brought it to our attention, in line with our values and with the law. eXp hopes and trusts the court will give a full and fair hearing to the plaintiffs as they pursue claims against the individuals who allegedly assaulted them. However, the claims against eXp and its leadership have no basis in fact or law, and to which eXp vehemently denies.”
‘Turned a blind eye’
Before she left and became a competitor, Nobel worked at eXp Realty from February 2014 to March 2020. She began as an agent and became a managing broker and regional growth leader reporting directly to Sanford, with whom she also cofounded an eXp nonprofit. She called Sanford a visionary and a brilliant man who had a habit of avoiding hard conversations, she said.
“He would avoid it at all costs,” said Nobel. He’d pass them along to someone else. “It just was not part of Glenn’s repertoire to be able to have those conversations,” Nobel said.
Early into her tenure at eXp, Nobel said she was sexually harassed by a colleague. She did not share specifics, but said she reported the harassment to her superiors. “Glenn never wanted to talk about it,” she said. The person she accused was never fired, so she had to continue to work with the person. “Glenn said he would handle it, and nothing ever happened,” she said.
“He absolutely knew what was going on and just turned a blind eye to it,” she said.
The company said it could not comment on matters to do with litigation, but provided a statement: “eXp takes its responsibility to foster a safe and inclusive environment very seriously. eXp has zero tolerance for abuse, harassment, or misconduct of any kind—including by the independent real estate agents who use our services.”
It continued: “When any claim is made, we investigate the matter and decide on appropriate action as part of due process. When we learn of any behavior to the contrary, we take action to address it. We firmly reject the claims made in these lawsuits and stand by the integrity of our reports, investigations, and the decisive actions we have taken to uphold a professional, ethical, and inclusive work environment.”
One of the sexual misconduct lawsuits names Sanford as a defendant because it alleges he “stood to benefit financially” by having Golden serve as a “sponsor” to one of the women accusing Golden of sexual assault.
In the other, an exhibit to the suit shows text messages between Bjorkman and Sanford, after the alleged sexual assaults. On Oct. 13, 2020, Bjorkman texted Sanford and said: “I’m so heart broken man…I’m so grateful for whatever you can do. I really do rely on rev share…If you would like to hear the stories etc I’m willing to share. It’s such bs.”
Sanford replied: “I have your back on the Rev Share. I haven’t been involved in the conversations and I can only imagine what you are going through. I’ve dealt with a few things in my day so I know that this a huge emotional roller-”. The rest of the message is cut off.
The two lawsuits call Sanford “agent #1” and claim he is at the top of the revenue share pyramid. But Sanford is no longer licensed to sell real estate, according to Washington state records, and no longer receives revenue share. Instead, the board awarded him a quarterly cash bonus equal to what his revenue share would have been, according to a proxy statement. Per the board’s calculation, Sanford is eligible for the maximum revenue share credit at each level. In 2023, Sanford’s cash bonus was around $81,000, according to a recent proxy statement. Even if Sanford leaves the company he will continue to receive that cash every year, so long as the company grows 30% annually.
‘Zero-tolerance policy’
About four months after sexual misconduct allegations were described in December 2023 by the New York Times, the company announced that Sanford was stepping down as chief executive of the brokerage. He was replaced by Pareja, whom he brought in two years prior.
Pareja was unable to tell Fortune in an interview in late Aug. 2024whether the eXp board conducted an internal review following the sexual misconduct allegations. “That’s a very specific question that I would have to get back to you,” he said. “I just took over as CEO.”
When asked what steps he’s taken to repair the company’s culture and reputation, and ensure his female agents are safe, he said, “we have a zero-tolerance policy.”
The company later provided a statement that said: “While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we absolutely investigate all allegations of violation of the code of ethics including the matter in question. In addition, we want to clarify that the board also conducted its own independent review. The claims against eXp and its leadership have no basis in fact or law, and eXp vehemently denies them.”
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