Silicon Valley 'whisper network' flags 100+ men for alleged sexual misconduct

A private spreadsheet circulating quietly among women in Silicon Valley contains the names of more than 100 men accused of sexual misconduct, according to reporting by The New York Post. The document lists investors, entrepreneurs, executives, and employees at major technology and artificial intelligence firms. The allegations recorded range from unwanted advances and drugging to sexual assault and rape. The spreadsheet itself remains private and unverified, shared only among women who have learned of its existence through informal networks.

The decision to keep the list hidden reflects a calculation born from fear. Women familiar with the network say they circulate information discreetly because of concerns about professional retaliation. Silicon Valley's ecosystem is tightly woven—investors fund startups, executives become board members, founders become investors themselves. An allegation involving someone influential can ripple outward, affecting funding rounds, job prospects, and the professional relationships that sustain careers in the region. One woman in her 20s who works in technology said she was struck by how many prominent names appeared on the list. She learned about the network only after asking other women directly about their experiences. "Some of them were very prominent names, you know? People who were famous investors. Businessmen who were in the scene, I had seen them at parties before," she said. She eventually added her own account to the spreadsheet.

The fear of retaliation runs deep enough to deter formal reporting. Another woman explained her hesitation to pursue official channels: she worried that if she reported her case and lost, she would be blacklisted by every investor in the region. That calculation—the risk of speaking up outweighing the risk of silence—keeps allegations in private documents rather than police reports or human resources departments.

Some of the incidents documented in the spreadsheet allegedly occurred at so-called hacker houses, communal residences in the San Francisco Bay Area where founders, investors, and technology workers live together, socialize, and build professional connections. These spaces blur the line between home and workplace in ways that create particular vulnerabilities. Residents can become colleagues, business partners, investors, or gatekeepers to future employment. Yehong Zhu, founder of the app Zette, has spoken publicly about an alleged rape and assault involving a former resident of the Genesis hacker house. She reported the matter to police in December 2021. The man subsequently left the area and has not been located or arrested. Zhu said she repeatedly told him no. She also said a house organizer discouraged her from going to police, instead proposing that the house form a committee and hold a vote on whether the man should be removed. Zhu eventually contacted law enforcement and lawyers and reached out to people who knew the man, hoping to locate him. Many declined to help. "We invested together. We did business together," she said of those who refused. A lawyer for Genesis founder Jeremy Nixon told The Post that Nixon was unaware of the specific situation but said he would support law enforcement and prioritize safety.

Not all hacker houses responded the same way. A former resident of Launch House described what happened after she suspected she had been drugged at a gathering. She experienced gaps in her memory, chills, sweating, and an inability to move. She later learned that a friend had helped her to bed. Other women reported unwanted advances by the same man. When the group approached the founders together, the response was swift. "They got rid of him immediately, he was kicked out of the house," she said. Launch House co-founder Brett Goldstein said the organization no longer operates in its previous form and that its conduct policies and incident-response procedures were developed with outside HR and safety experts. He acknowledged that anyone running an in-person community has a responsibility to continuously improve safety.

These accounts have drawn renewed attention to how reporting and safety function—or fail to function—within tightly connected technology communities. When professional relationships, social bonds, and residential arrangements all overlap, the pathways for accountability become unclear. A woman can fear that reporting will end her career. A house organizer can suggest a vote instead of police involvement. An investor can decline to help locate an accused person. The spreadsheet, in this context, represents both a solution and an indictment: women have created their own system of information-sharing because the formal systems available to them feel too risky to use.