UCI Foundation trustee embroiled in lawsuits involving former business employee
A UC Irvine Foundation trustee is the subject of a sexual harassment and wrongful-termination lawsuit by a former business employee that he says is retaliation for his own lawsuit accusing the employee and a shareholder of defrauding the company he ran.
Bruce Cahill, former chief executive of Pharma Pak in Irvine, has been a UCI Foundation trustee since 2006. The foundation, the leading volunteer organization supporting the university, has a 43-member board.
In May, Cahill and other shareholders of Pharma Pak, a now-closed packaging and labeling company, filed a lawsuit against former employee Olivia Karpinski and minority shareholder Paul Edalat. The lawsuit alleges Karpinski and Edalat “framed” Cahill in February by planting THC and marijuana in the company’s facility on Gillette Avenue in Irvine.
It also alleges the two defrauded the company by spending thousands of dollars of Pharma Pak money on gambling and hotels during trips to Las Vegas that were not for company business.
In a phone interview, Edalat called all of Cahill’s claims “100% false.”
On Aug. 8, Edalat and Karpinski filed a suit alleging that Karpinski, who was hired in June 2015, was sexually harassed throughout her employment and wrongfully terminated in March from her job as executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Their lawsuit and Cahill’s were filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.
Attorney John Markham, who is representing Cahill, said Karpinski’s allegations that Cahill subjected her to “sexually charged interactions” are unfounded and that Cahill is a “highly respected trustee who does a lot of charity work.”
Cahill said in a phone interview that he would gladly take a polygraph test.
“Olivia has never been sexually harassed or intimidated by anyone,” Cahill said.
UC Irvine spokesman Tom Vasich said the university “does not comment on pending litigation.”
In their lawsuit, Karpinski and Edalat allege they called police when they found THC and marijuana in the Gillette Avenue facility. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is a chemical in marijuana responsible for most of the drug’s psychological effects.
Edalat said he went to authorities as soon as he found out about the THC. His and Karpinski’s lawsuit claims Cahill found out about their cooperation with police and wrongfully fired Karpinski. Edalat said the police investigation is still open.
Cahill said Karpinski was not fired but rather was let go with other employees for financial reasons. Pharma Pak was dissolved in March, he said.
Cahill said he saw Karpinski and Edalat setting up an operation to produce marijuana vaporizer pens at the Gillette facility in January.
“There were never any illegal drugs manufactured there unless it was Paul and Olivia,” Cahill said.
Karpinski and Edalat said they never set up a vaporizer pen operation. Edalat said he leases the Gillette facility so it wouldn’t have made sense for him to plant marijuana in it.
Karpinski and Edalat’s suit initially was dismissed by District Judge Andrew Guilford on Oct. 4 because he wanted clarification of their claims. It was refiled last week.
Cahill and other company shareholders then filed a motion for the court to restrain Karpinski and Edalat from posting “false and highly damaging matters on the Internet,” according to court documents.
Karpinski said the only information she had posted was from public documents.
Cahill and the shareholders also filed a motion seeking to advance the trial date for both lawsuits.
The motions are set for a hearing Nov. 28.
Twitter: @benbrazilpilot
