Elie Tahari denies sexual harassment claims in 6 million dollar lawsuit

Luxury designer Elie Tahari has denied sexual harassment claims made by a former employee. A lawsuit, said to be asking for six million dollars in compensation, has been filed by former model for the fashion house Marcy Castelgrande. The claims states Castelgrande was wrongfully fired just 2 hours after she reported the case of sexual harassment to the label's HR department.

"Tahari’s recently divorced CEO, Mr. Tahari, unlawfully and inappropriately touched Ms. Castelgrande in the area of her private parts while she was modeling a skirt before a public crowd of at least ten people," the lawsuit states, according to Page Six and goes on to claim the designer told the room of employees following the incident that the model was "too sensitive" and that he could not work with her as he "had lawsuits in the past and cannot deal with another one."

"Elie Tahari Ltd and Elie Tahari both deny the allegations contained in the judicial complaint filed by Marcy Castelgrande and are prepared to vigorously defend the matter," the fashion house said in a statement to The Cut. "Since this a pending legal matter, we do not have any further comment at this time."