Highlights
- Former MrBeast exec sues Beast Industries over alleged sexual harassment and retaliation
- Suit claims women were demoted or fired after complaining about hostile work environment
- Beast Industries calls allegations “categorically false” and “clout-chasing”
The media company behind YouTube megastar Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson has been hit with a federal lawsuit by a former employee alleging years of sexual harassment, gender bias, and retaliation — claims that Beast Industries is calling “categorically false.”
Lorrayne Mavromatis, a former executive at Beast Industries, worked for the company from Aug. 22, 2022, until Nov. 6, 2025. Her complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, paints a damning picture of a workplace where harassment of women was not only tolerated — it was normalized.
Mavromatis was originally hired as Beast Industries’ head of Instagram at an annual salary of $100,000. By June 2023, she had been promoted to head of creative with her salary bumped to $120,000 — and shortly after, she was elevated again to a role commanding $250,000 annually, managing a team of approximately 20 employees and a monthly budget of around $500,000.
The rise, however, was short-lived.
According to the lawsuit, former company CEO James Warren subjected Mavromatis to sexual harassment — including requiring one-on-one meetings at his home while commenting on her appearance — and dismissed her complaint about a male client’s unwelcome advances, allegedly telling her she “should be honored that the client was hitting on her.”
The complaint gets more specific — and more explosive — from there.
When Mavromatis asked Warren why Donaldson would not meet with her on certain projects, Warren allegedly told her: “Jimmy gets really awkward around beautiful women. Let’s just say that when you’re around and he goes to the restroom, he’s not actually using the restroom.”
Following that comment, Mavromatis “began to wear baggy clothes and baseball caps, so her looks would not potentially negatively impact her employment,” the suit states.
Beast Industries pushed back hard on that particular allegation, calling it a fabrication designed to generate clicks. “This is an allegation fabricated for the sole purpose of sparking headlines. It’s also disgusting that the lawsuit is exploiting Jimmy’s eye condition and Crohn’s disease — two medical conditions he has been publicly open about — in their attempt to secure a multimillion-dollar payday,” a company spokeswoman said.
When Mavromatis formally complained about the hostile work environment to Beast Industries’ head of HR, she was told her claims were “unsubstantiated” and was promptly demoted and transferred to what MrBeast employees allegedly called the division where “careers go to die.”
The retaliation didn’t stop there.
The suit alleged that Mavromatis was excluded from all-male meetings, that harassment of female employees was normalized, and that she was ultimately fired after raising these concerns and taking maternity leave. She also claimed to be the first employee at the company to request maternity leave benefits, and said she was concerned how Donaldson would “take the news of her pregnancy.”
The company fired Mavromatis less than three weeks after she returned from pregnancy-related leave, telling her she was “too high caliber” for the role she had been demoted into following her harassment complaint.
The lawsuit is being backed by the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. Jennifer Mondino, the senior director of the fund at the National Women’s Law Center, said the allegations reflect a familiar and troubling pattern. “Abusive workplaces rely on a persistent lack of accountability,” Mondino said in a statement. “We see this pattern frequently, where those with influence and power are allowed to harm others and retaliate against those who decide to speak up.”
Mondino also praised Mavromatis for her willingness to go public. “Lorrayne has been extraordinarily brave in coming forward, and we hope she is granted a measure of justice and healing,” she said. “We are in a collective fight to address a long-standing culture of harassment that relies on entrenched silence and shame.”
Mavromatis is seeking lost wages, lost benefits, reinstatement, front pay in lieu of reinstatement, liquidated damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees and costs, according to her complaint.
Beast Industries, for its part, isn’t backing down an inch. “This clout-chasing complaint is built on deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements, and we have the receipts to prove it,” a company spokesperson told Newsweek. “There is extensive evidence — including Slack and WhatsApp messages, company documents, and witness testimony — that unequivocally refutes her claims. We will not submit to opportunistic lawyers looking to manufacture a payday from us.”
Sources close to the situation indicate that there had been prior outreach from Mavromatis’ representatives seeking a settlement before the complaint was filed, though it remains unclear whether mediation discussions are running in parallel.
Donaldson is currently the most-followed creator on YouTube with 479 million subscribers. Beast Industries has over 500 employees. This is not the first time his empire has faced legal headwinds. A separate class action filed in September 2024 targets MrBeast, his production company, and Amazon over allegations from Beast Games contestants, including sexual harassment, unpaid wages, and unsafe working conditions — a case that remained active as recently as February 2026 with no settlement announced.
Donaldson is not named as a defendant in Mavromatis’ suit. The case is being handled by Raleigh attorney Rebecca Mayer of the Noble Law Firm.
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