A former NFL player is suing the CEO of a metaverse company, claiming she pressured him into playing 'sexually harassing games' and discriminated against him because he is black.

Teyo Johnson, a former tight end for the Oakland Raiders, filed a lawsuit against Everyrealm CEO Janine Yorio in August claiming that she presided over a toxic work environment.

He alleges in an amended suit obtained by DailyMail.com that Yorio pressured him into 'sexually harassing games' in which coworkers and clients were encouraged to sleep with each other.

Lawyers for the metaverse company — which develops and sells virtual real estate — have vehemently denied these allegations instead claiming that Johnson made the inappropriate comments at its New York offices.

Teyo Johnson, a former tight end for the Oakland Raiders, filed a lawsuit against Everyrealm and its CEO Janine Yario in August

He claims in recent court documents that Yorio (pictured) pressured him into 'sexually harassing games' to sleep with coworkers and clients

But Johnson's lawsuit is just one of three filed against the virtual reality company, accusing Yorio of sexually harassing black employees and subjecting them to racial remarks — even once threatening to 'trade' Johnson if he did not perform his job.

Together, they are seeking $1.9million in damages from the Andreessen Horowitz-backed company that 'invests in and develops virtual worlds.'

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In his lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, Johnson claims Yorio encouraged him to play a 'sex-related game' during a business trip to the SXSW festival in August.

According to the suit, Yorio used the euphemisms 'KYP,' meaning 'know your personnel,' and 'KYC,' meaning 'know your client,' to signify 'having sex or hooking up with your coworkers and business partners.'

She allegedly told Johnson, who worked as the company's director of strategic partnerships, that 'the way to play the game' was to 'get laid by a coworker on a business trip.'

Johnson also alleges he was wrongfully fired after he blew the whistle on a potentially illegal gambling project

Yorio is then accused of asking him if he 'would be doing any KYP' on the trip, which the suit says, took Johnson aback.

'In other words, Ms. Yorio asked Mr. Johnson if he planned on having sex or hooking up with any coworkers during SXSW, insinuating that doing so was strongly encouraged.' 

He says he 'politely informed her that he was "already really close with someone."'

But later that evening, Johnson alleged that Yorio went to his hotel room in Austin and 'insinuated in no uncertain terms that she believed he would' cheat on his girlfriend to 'participate in the company's KYP game.' 

'It was apparent to him that Ms. Yorio, the CEO of his new employer who had told him during his interview that he was "more than just a pretty face" was inappropriately "testing the waters" with him,' according to the suit.

'To Mr. Johnson, he and Ms. Yorio were colleagues and nothing more,' it continues, noting that he was her subordinate.

The lawsuit also alleges that Yorio made offensive jokes about Johnson's girlfriend's menstrual cycle and referred to him as both a 'stupid black person' and 'the whitest black person.'

She is further alleged to have called him a 'd***,' a 'big swinging d***' and a 'f****** d***.' 

And, the lawsuit claims, William Kerr, the company's general counsel, once referred to Paris Hilton — an Everyrealm investor who has been pictured with Yorio at past events — as a 'night in Paris,' the title of revenge porn video leaked to the Internet in 2004.

Johnson, whose job required managing celebrity accounts like Hilton's, was said to be horrified that in order to carry out his job duties, he had to listen to the derogatory comments and nicknames.

DailyMail.com has reached out to lawyers for the metaverse company as well as Paris Hilton's agent for comment. 

The lawsuit also claims that an Everyrealm lawyer made derogatory comments about Paris Hilton, an investor who has been pictured with Yorio in the past

Johnson was hired by the company in July 2022, when he says Yorio told the then-HR director Kathy Yost 'Teyo is the whitest black guy I've ever met,' only to later insist she 'meant it in a good way.' Yost also recounted the interaction in her own lawsuit.

Soon after, Johnson says, he learned he was the lowest paid director in the company, earning a base salary of $125,000 and a discretionary $40,000 bonus.

Then, when he held a successful partnership meeting with LeBron James' entertainment company, Spring Hills, Yorio allegedly told Johnson: "[You're] lucky that went well, now I don't have to trade you.'

Ultimately, Johnson claims he was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle on a potentially illegal cryptocurrency 'gambling scheme' involving NFT playing cards of professional soccer players.

According to the lawsuit filed in August, the scheme 'involved a cryptocurrency version of fantasy sports in which users would buy pack s of NFTs representing professional soccer player cards.'

It explains: 'Users would enter cryptocurrencies into a pool and then win prize money if their NFT playing cards performed better than the other players' NFTs.

But, the lawsuit says, Everyrealm did not have a gambling license in New York — where it is based, and 'reasonably believed ' that the game would 'violate numerous New York and federal laws' as 'randomizing the packs of cards... would qualify as a game of chance and thus be illegal.'

After he brought his concerns to his supervisors and the NFT project was scrapped, it claims, Yorio 'soured on' Johnson, and he wound up in her 'doghouse.'  

In the aftermath, the lawsuit says, his proposal to forge a relationship between Everyrealm and NFL.com was sabotaged by Yorio and other executives.

Johnson said he had met with executives at NFL.com to form a partnership and created a project plan with requests to have 3D graphics designed for the proposal.

Julia Schwartz, a member of the board of directors, asked to be 'kept in the loo[' in the aftermath, and said she wanted to write the proposal herself, according to the suit.

'However, it became clear within a couple of days that not only had Ms. Schwartz not started writing the proposal, but she was secretly preventing anyone in her department from providing Mr. Johnson with the 3D graphics he had requested,' the suit states.

Under pressure to get the proposal completed, it says, Johnson decided to write the proposal himself and included a skybox meeting place Yorio had proposed in which fans of each NFL team could meet virtually with the players.

But when he handed it to Yorio, the suit claims, she refused to send the proposal back to NFL.com, telling Johnson: 'We don't need to be detailed in what we can build out, we need to be vague.'

Everyrealm is a virtual reality real estate company that 'invests in and develops virtual worlds'

A spokesperson for the company has now vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to DailyMail.com calling them 'lies.'

'As we have stated in our court filings, this employee worked at the company for only three months and was terminated for poor performance, expense account abuse and falling asleep on the job.'

The company also alleges in court documents that Johnson 'openly and routinely disparaged the mother of his child and demanded that Everyrealm pay a portion of his wages in cash to avoid garnishment for his child support payments.'

Company executives refused his demand, they claim.

'Johnson made various inappropriate comments in the workplace regarding other women in his life, hazed a junior female employee by disparaging her as a "rookie" and refusing to meet with her,' lawyers for the company write in court documents.

They also said Johnson referred to Schwartz, a cofounder at the company as 'that b****' and Yorio as 'that crazy b****.' 

The lawyers further write in a Motion  to Dismiss that Johnson's original claim that he was 'discharged "solely on account of his race" has been cast aside in an effort to avoid arbitration.

'Aside from his failure to plead a sexual harassment claim, the evidence will show that it was Johnson who encouraged discussions regarding sexuality and promiscuity.' 

But Johnson is not the only former employee to make these types of allegations against Everyrealm and its executives. 

Former employees Gatsby Frimpong, left, and Kathy Yost, right, have also filed lawsuits against Yario and other executives at Everyrealm

Another African American former employee, Gatsby Frimpong, alleged in a suit filed last week in Manhattan federal court that he was paid less than a white engineering director was for similar work.

He also claims Yario refused to consider him for promotion after he rejected her sexual advances, and once told him at a meeting about engineering and product that 'it is important [that he ] get the customer wet, just like [he] would do with a woman.' 

She allegedly asked him whether he was in a relationship, and on another occasion, said she and her husband, Jesse, whom she had hired to work at the company, were 'only married in the metaverse.'

A spokesperson for the company said the allegations laid out in his lawsuit are 'absurd,' claiming he 'worked remotely and Mrs. Yario only interacted with him a few times on video calls.'

Meanwhile, Kathy Yost, 46, who claims she knew Yario in high school and got a job as a human resources officer after Yario posted about the job opportunity online, also sued the company over 'discriminatory and illegal policies and acts' including 'sexually suggestive remarks about colleagues' live lives and orientation.'

She alleges in her suit, filed back in August, that she confided in Yario that she 'suffers from alcohol use disorder' in hope that 'Mrs. Yario would be her ally and help deflect attention from the fact that Ms. Yost does not drink at company gatherings.'

But Yario allegedly used 'this highly personal and confidential information to taunt Ms. Yost in front of' employees by telling them at an event "We need to get Kathy SIX drinks!'

Yost also claims that executives did not accept that she was a single mother, 'openly bisexual, disabled and refused to rubberstamp Everyrealm's discriminatory and illegal policies and acts.' 

Her suit says she was fired just one day after she informed her superiors that 'she could not comply with their plainly illegal, retaliatory and discriminatory personnel policies that made women and other protected groups second-class employees at Everyrealm.' 

It says that while working at the company, Yost noticed that employees who questioned the identity of Everyrealm's Metaflower Super Mega Yacht NFT, they were fired.

And, her suit says, Yario would refer to an employee with autism as the 'Team Mascot' and another with ADHD as a 'moron' and an 'idiot.' 

Still, the spokesperson says: 'These are nothing more than baseless allegations from a disgruntled former employee seeking to cause harm to our company.'

He added that the company will defend against the 'false allegations' made by 'former employees who are demanding multimillion dollar settlements.'

'Our company works hard to foster a supportive, inclusive workplace and we will continue to defend against these lawsuits.'

The company has since filed its own legal actions against the plaintiffs in an attempt to take the complaints out of litigation and into arbitration. 

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