Carta Lawsuit: Discrimination, Harassment, and Talton Case

Carta, the cap table and equity management platform, has faced a series of lawsuits since 2020, most brought by former female employees alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment, or retaliation. At least four women have sued or filed formal complaints against the company and its executives, and Carta has itself sued two former executives. Most of the employee-filed cases have settled on confidential terms. One dispute, between Carta and its former chief technology officer Jerry Talton, remains active in federal court in New York.

Emily Kramer’s Gender Discrimination Suit

The first major case came in 2020. Emily Kramer, Carta’s former vice president of growth, sued in California Superior Court alleging gender discrimination and retaliation. Kramer said she was the only woman and only openly queer member of the executive team and was pushed out for advocating on gender equality.¹

According to Kramer, CEO Henry Ward told her in November 2019 that she “got passes because she was a woman,” that “nobody wanted to work with her,” and that she was violating the company’s “no assholes policy.” She said Ward compared her to “an alcoholic who needed to admit her problem” or leave.¹

The case settled unconditionally in February 2023. Whether money changed hands has not been disclosed.¹

Alexandra Rogers’s Sexual Harassment Suit

In August 2023, former sales manager Alexandra Rogers sued Carta, Chief Revenue Officer Jeff Perry, and Ward in San Francisco Superior Court.² Rogers alleged Perry groped her thigh while she waited in line for a bathroom at a company happy hour in June 2022, and months later, at a sales dinner, placed his hand on her leg under the table and stroked her arm above it.³

Rogers said she reported the incidents to HR in June 2023 and afterward was treated by Ward in an “aggressive and demeaning” manner. A manager allegedly told her that Ward “doesn’t like women with strong personalities.” She was laid off less than two months later, in what she described as a pretextual reduction in force.⁴

Perry denied the allegations, saying he “never at any time interacted with Rogers in a sexual or inappropriate manner,” and in October 2023 filed a defamation cross-complaint accusing Rogers of fabricating evidence.³

The case settled on January 9, 2025. Both Rogers’s suit and Perry’s cross-complaint were dismissed with prejudice, meaning neither can be refiled. Terms were confidential, and Carta made no admission of liability.⁵

Amanda Sheets’s Discrimination and Disability Suit

Also in 2023, former account executive Amanda Sheets sued Carta in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging sex discrimination and denial of disability accommodations. Sheets said she had chronic migraines and was fired after requesting to work remotely, while male colleagues who made similar requests faced no scrutiny.⁵ Her complaint named Perry personally, alleging he was involved in processing her remote work request and requiring extra paperwork.³

Carta denied every allegation and moved to dismiss Perry from the case. Before the court ruled, the parties settled in November 2023.⁵

Carta v. Jerry Talton: The Only Active Case

The Talton litigation is the most complicated of the group and the only one still open. In October 2022, Talton, Carta’s chief technology officer, sent a letter to the board raising concerns about what he described as widespread misconduct and inadequate investigation of discrimination complaints.⁴ He was placed on administrative leave that month and fired “for cause” on December 23, 2022.⁶

A week later, Carta sued him in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The company alleged Talton had secretly recorded meetings with executives and board members, shared a transcript with a former employee and her attorney, misused a corporate credit card, and sent or received sexually explicit messages with at least nine women.⁶

Talton filed counterclaims. He alleged Carta and Ward retaliated against him for speaking up about sexism and defamed him in the process.⁷

On March 27, 2025, Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke denied Carta’s motion to dismiss the retaliation and defamation counterclaims, ruling that Talton had sufficiently alleged a connection between his internal complaints and his firing. The judge did dismiss his claim for publication of private fact.⁷

In a June 2025 discovery order, the court required Carta to produce records of sex- and sexual-orientation-based discrimination complaints filed between September 2018 and January 2024, finding them relevant to Talton’s claim that his firing was pretextual.⁸ The parties estimate a trial of two to three weeks. No trial date has been set.⁹

The Kaur Resignation Letter

A significant piece of evidence in the Talton case is an October 2022 resignation email from Gurpreet “Preeti” Kaur, Carta’s former vice president of engineering. Kaur accused Ward of a “pattern of humiliating certain women” and described a dinner at which he made her feel “vulnerable and smaller” and dismissed a potential promotion as “ceremonial.” The letter was unsealed in the Talton case on May 1, 2026.¹⁰

Kaur has since disavowed the email, telling Business Insider she was “emotional” at the time and “misperceived” Ward’s comments. Talton has alleged in court filings that Carta leadership pressured Kaur to rescind the letter and offered to draft an apology email for her. Carta denies that.¹⁰

Carta’s Suit Against Heidi Johnson

In the summer of 2023, Carta also sued its former chief product officer, Heidi Johnson, alleging she possessed secret recordings of executives made by Talton.³ Johnson had previously submitted a formal gender discrimination complaint to Carta’s board. The case eventually settled on undisclosed terms.¹⁰

Not a Lawsuit: The Secondary Trading Data Incident

Carta faced a separate controversy in January 2024 that is sometimes conflated with the discrimination cases but produced no litigation. Karri Saarinen, CEO of the startup Linear, publicly alleged that a Carta employee had used confidential cap table data to cold-contact Linear’s investors about selling shares without authorization, reaching a family member whose investment had not been publicly disclosed.¹¹

Ward attributed the incident to a “rogue employee.” On January 8, 2024, Carta shut down its secondary trading business entirely. The unit had generated roughly $3 million in annual revenue.¹¹

Where Things Stand Now

Carta and its leaders have denied wrongdoing across the discrimination cases. Ward publicly defended Perry after the Rogers and Sheets suits, writing that “anybody that knows Jeff knows the accusations against him are ridiculous.”¹² After Talton’s 2022 letter, the board retained former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch of Paul Weiss to investigate. The findings have never been disclosed.³

Ward remains CEO. Perry is still listed as chief revenue officer on Carta’s website.¹³ The one notable executive departure tied to the controversies was David Kim, head of business, who left in April 2024, saying in an internal Slack message that he wanted to spend more time with his family.¹⁴

The business continues to grow. Carta reports serving more than 50,000 companies and 1.7 million equity holders, tracking over $4.5 trillion in assets.¹⁵ Its secondary-market valuation, however, has fallen from a $7.4 billion Series G peak in 2021 to an estimated $2.76 billion.¹⁶ The Talton case continues in the Southern District of New York, and it is the only piece of the litigation still capable of moving.⁹

1
Business Insider. Carta Settles Gender Discrimination Lawsuit With Former Executive
2
UniCourt. Alexandra Rogers vs. eShares Inc. d/b/a Carta, Inc.
3
Fortune. Women Claim Mistreatment at Carta Unicorn Startup
4
The San Francisco Standard. Carta San Francisco Lawsuits
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TechCrunch. Carta Settles Two More Lawsuits That Alleged Sexual Harassment and Discrimination
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TechCrunch. Carta, Previously Sued for Gender Discrimination, Is Now Suing Its Former CTO
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Bloomberg Law. Ex-Carta CTO Advances Retaliation Claim Against Fintech Startup
8
Constangy. eShares Order, June 23, 2025
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CourtListener. eShares, Inc. v. Talton, III
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Business Insider. Carta CEO Accused of Sexism, Exec Disavows Email
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TechCrunch. After Taking Credibility Hit, Carta Announces It Is Exiting the Secondaries Business
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Business Insider. Carta Startup Discrimination Harassment Boys Club Allegations
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Carta. Jeff Perry, Chief Revenue Officer
14
Fortune. Top Carta Exec David Kim Left Company
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Carta. Carta Homepage
16
PM Insights. Carta Company Profile