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KAUAI, Hawaii — One minute before midnight on December 29, 2017, one of Mark Zuckerberg's personal staffers got a phone call. On the other end of the line was Christina (not her real name), a 26-year-old assistant in the sprawling family office of Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Clearly panicked, she said she had been assaulted by a coworker while visiting the Facebook CEO's ranch in Hawaii for a work event.
Christina sounded "frantic and terrified," the colleague who received the call later told police, and they advised Christina to "lock the doors" before dispatching staff to help her.
A casual dinner among colleagues that evening at a midmarket restaurant on the Hawaiian island of Kauai had descended into a bitter, alcohol-fueled argument, an allegation of assault, a visible head injury, a late-night visit to the emergency room, and an immediate flight back to the mainland, where Christina was never to be seen at work again.
Christina's alleged assailant was Shawn Smith, the Facebook founder's key aide in Hawaii and the manager of his $100 million properties there. Smith has denied assaulting Christina, who later told police that she couldn't remember exactly what happened to her that night. Smith was investigated on suspicion of misdemeanor assault but not charged.
The incident and its fall-out, however, sent shockwaves through the bustling network of personal aides, assistants, nannies, chefs, drivers, medics, and security guards who make up the Zuckerberg family's personal staff. And while one might expect that a household of such astounding wealth would be an impeccably sober and professional environment, the assault claim was one of several allegations, from racism and transphobia to sexual harassment and physical assault, that have rocked the 35-year-old billionaire's staff over the past three years.
