A former employee of hedge fund billionaire and top Republican donor Robert Mercer has alleged that he was fired for calling Mercer a racist and criticizing his support of Donald Trump.
David Magerman, a former research scientist at Mercer’s hedge fund, alleged in a lawsuit against Mercer filed May 5 that he was wrongfully fired in April after clashing with the Mercer family.
According to the suit, Magerman asked to speak with Mercer in January about the top donor’s support of Trump, who was then the president-elect.
During that conversation, according to Magerman, Mercer said the United States “began to go in the wrong direction after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s” and said black people are the “only racist people remaining” in the U.S.
Magerman’s lawyer said in the complaint that his client was “stunned” by Mercer’s remarks and “pushed back.”
According to Magerman, Mercer subsequently told him: “I hear you’re going around saying I’m a white supremacist.”
Magerman in February quoted Mercer’s remarks in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“I’d like to think I’m speaking out in a way that won’t risk my job, but it’s very possible they could fire me,” Magerman said at the time. “But I feel relieved I’m now doing something, and if they fire me, maybe it’s for the best.”
According to the suit, Magerman was suspended without pay a day after the interview was published.