Brandy Melville Lawsuit: Wage Theft, Discrimination, and IP Fights

The Brandy Melville lawsuit history stretches from 2016 to the present and covers three distinct areas: a California wage-theft class action that settled for $1.45 million in 2022, discrimination suits brought by former executives who won a $806,000 judgment, and a wave of copyright and trademark cases the company itself has filed against Shein and Temu. Founder Stephan Marsan has been central to the discrimination and misconduct allegations reported by Business Insider and HBO, but he has not been individually charged in publicly available records.

The California Wage Theft Class Action

Two class actions filed in 2016 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court were consolidated into a single case against Brandy Melville and Thomas Aquinas Inc., the entity named as the employer. The suits, Katarina Lanni v. Thomas Aquinas Inc. (BC637213) and Maria Allen et al. v. Brandy Melville (BC607668), alleged a “consistent policy” of California labor law violations, including off-the-clock work, denied meal and rest breaks, and inaccurate timekeeping.¹

Final approval of a $1.45 million settlement came on November 4, 2022. About $805,000 went to nearly 4,000 non-exempt hourly employees who worked for the company in California between October 2012 and July 2021, with individual payouts averaging around $204 based on shifts worked. The rest covered fees and costs. Brandy Melville denied wrongdoing and raised affirmative defenses, including a claim that any damages resulted from the employees’ own conduct.²

Discrimination Suits by Former Executives

Two separate lawsuits from former senior employees accused the company of pushing them out for refusing to carry out discriminatory hiring and firing directed by founder Stephan Marsan.

Sorgi and Simeone (Canada)

In August 2020, Franco Sorgi and Paolo Simeone, who ran Brandy Melville’s Canadian operations, sued Bastiat USA. They claimed their trademark agreements were terminated because they refused to follow discriminatory hiring practices, and that the company ordered a Toronto-area store at Square One shopping centre closed on the ground that its predominantly non-white clientele did not fit the brand’s image.³ In June 2022, a California court ruled for Sorgi and Simeone and ordered Brandy Melville to pay $806,000 in damages and costs.¹

Luca Rotondo

Former senior vice president Luca Rotondo filed his own suit alleging he was ousted after refusing to fire employees based on race or appearance. He said that when he defied Marsan’s order to fire a manager at a Newport Beach store, his salary was cut by $40,000 before he was terminated. Bastiat USA denied in court filings that it had “ever fired an employee on account of his or her race” and said Rotondo’s pay reduction reflected a change in territory responsibilities.³

The Marsan Allegations and the HBO Documentary

Much of what appears in the discrimination lawsuits was expanded in a 2021 Business Insider investigation and the 2024 HBO documentary Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion. Former managers alleged Marsan directed them to fire Black employees and employees he considered overweight, and that workers of color were routinely assigned to stockrooms or cash registers while white employees worked the floor.³ Staff reported being required to send Marsan daily full-body photos of themselves.⁴ Former associates said Marsan participated in a leadership group chat called “Brandy Melville Gags” that circulated racist, antisemitic, and pornographic content.⁵

Marsan has never given a public interview, declined to participate in the HBO documentary, and his representatives did not respond to requests for comment. As of 2024, he reportedly continued to serve as CEO.⁶

Sexual Misconduct Allegations

The Business Insider report and HBO documentary also included allegations of sexual harassment and assault. A former manager of the Soho, New York store said that in July 2015 she was sexually assaulted at a company-used apartment by Andrea Castagnasso, described as an Italian Brandy Melville store owner and close associate of Marsan. Medical records from July 28, 2015, showed she sought post-assault treatment and told hospital staff she had been raped. She said she did not report the incident to police because she feared losing her work visa. Four former employees told Business Insider they believed appearing topless in front of executives could lead to better pay or benefits, and managers reported that executives provided alcohol to underage employees during late-night shifts.³

Brandy Melville v. Shein

On June 23, 2025, Bastiat USA sued Shein for copyright infringement in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Bastiat USA, Inc. v. Shein Distribution Corp. et al., 2:25-cv-05701). The complaint accused Shein of copying Brandy Melville designs and using the brand’s own copyrighted product photos to market cheaper knockoffs in what the plaintiffs’ lawyers called a “bait-and-switch.” Cited items included sweatshirts, shorts, and shirts, and the suit sought damages exceeding $1 million.⁷

On April 28, 2026, Judge Otis D. Wright II partially granted Shein’s motion to dismiss. He threw out the trademark infringement and unfair competition claims as preempted by the Copyright Act but let the copyright claims proceed, including contributory and vicarious infringement theories targeting Shein’s marketplace platform.⁸ A jury trial is scheduled for August 31, 2027.⁹

Brandy Melville v. Temu

A month later, on July 24, 2025, Bastiat USA and Y.Y.G.M. SA filed a broader suit against Temu and its parent PDD Holdings in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (2:25-cv-13592). The complaint alleged trademark and copyright infringement, false designation of origin, and unfair competition, and accused Temu of allowing counterfeit Brandy Melville products while exercising direct control over sellers’ pricing, marketing, and fulfillment. The plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief, destruction of infringing goods, and millions in damages.¹⁰

Other IP Cases

Brandy Melville has also been on the receiving end of IP claims. In 2016, Forever 21 sued Bastiat USA for allegedly copying its copyright-protected prints; the case settled in 2017.¹¹ In 2024, Y.Y.G.M. SA filed a trademark infringement suit against Redbubble in the Northern District of California (3:24-cv-01952), which terminated in July 2024 following what appears to have been a stipulated resolution.¹²

Which Entity Gets Sued

The Brandy Melville brand sits behind a layered corporate structure that shows up across the case captions. Y.Y.G.M. SA is a Swiss corporation based in Lugano that owns the brand’s trademarks and licenses them in the United States.¹³ Bastiat USA, a Nevada corporation headquartered in New Jersey, manages U.S. licensees and holds copyrights. Thomas Aquinas Inc. was named as the defendant employer in the California wage-theft class action.¹ According to allegations in the former franchisees’ discrimination suits, the Marsan family controls these entities.³

1
The Fashion Law. Brandy Melville Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Failure to Properly Pay Employees
2
Business Insider. Brandy Melville $1.45 Million Settlement Class Action Lawsuit
3
Business Insider. Brandy Melville Teen Fast Fashion Racism Exploitation
4
Time. Brandy Hellville Documentary True Story
5
Vogue. The 5 Most Harrowing Charges From HBOs Brandy Melville Documentary
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People. Where Is Brandy Melville CEO Stephan Marsan Now
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Women’s Wear Daily. Shein Brandy Melville Bastiat USA Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
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The Fashion Law. Court Trims Brandy Melville Case Against Shein but Keeps Platform Liability Claims
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PACER Monitor. Bastiat USA, Inc v. Shein Distribution Corp et al
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Women’s Wear Daily. Brandy Melville Bastiat Temu Copyright Trademark Infringement Lawsuit
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Fashion Dive. Brandy Melville Sues Shein
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CourtListener. YYGM SA dba Brandy Melville v. Redbubble Inc.
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CCH. Bastiat USA v. PDD Holdings Complaint