Princess Beatrice Asked To Quit Afiniti Amid Sexual Assault Allegations Against CEO

Princess Beatrice has been urged to quit Afiniti after the tech firm's chief executive officer (CEO) allegedly forced a friend's 28-year-daughter into sex and thrashed her.

According to Daily Mail, she is working in New York as vice-president of strategy and partnerships at the firm that is fighting the allegations that Zia Chishti sexually assaulted, threatened and harassed a female employee. The royal is on maternity leave right now.

Following the allegations, Chishti "should consider his position" and that other top employees such as Beatrice should follow suit, said Harriet Wistrich, the founder of the centre for Women's Justice.

Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who worked as an adviser at Afiniti, has already put down his papers. Chishti, who “strongly disputes all accusations against him," has also quit, reported The Times.

A former employee alleged that Chishti groomed her when she was 21 years old and then assaulted her after she was offered a position at the firm, five years ago. According to a testimony she gave to a US Congressional committee, the 50-year-old allegedly told her that "he should have had sex with me when I was 13 years old."

The woman said that she met him when she was 12 or 13 years old, and met him once again when she was studying at Columbia Law School. She added that when she was in her senior year of college, in December 2014, Chishti, who was 43 years old back then, invited her to go on a ski trip. She initially turned down the offer, but he insisted he wanted her to meet his nephew, who was also a philosophy student, so she agreed to go. She later learned that the nephew didn't even exist.

According to the woman, the trip was designed to groom her. Chishti allegedly told her that he had feelings and showed her an "extravagant lifestyle." She said that she rejected him, but ended up dating him about five times over 10 weeks. Months later, she was encouraged by him to join his company. He "presented a rosy picture of a great career opportunity," and she believed him.

Chishti allegedly told her that he did not expect a sexual relationship with her. She signed a contract that included an agreement with a "strong confidentiality clause" when she joined his firm in 2016. The working environment was toxic for her, and she said that he "ocellated between pressurizing me for sex and punishing me."

She claimed that during a work trip to Dubai, he put his hands under her pants and grabbed her bottom in front of colleagues. She said that she avoided Chishti as much as she could, but was under increasing pressure from him, and she began to worry that, in addition to wanting sex, he wanted to punish and hurt her for rejecting his advances. She didn't want to lose her job, didn't want him to get any angrier, and she was too tired to argue with him. Once she went to his room where he beat her while having sex.