Soho House Los Angeles is facing a rape lawsuit, and the allegations don’t just involve the assault itself, according to a lawsuit first reported by the Los Angeles Times. They involve management being told about it and doing nothing, then doing worse than nothing.
The private members club, long considered a second home for Hollywood’s creative class, has operated in West Hollywood since 2010, when it opened its first Los Angeles location at 9200 Sunset Blvd. on the Sunset Strip. Film executives, writers, directors and industry talent have made it a fixture for decades. The lawsuit involves a separate downtown location, Soho Warehouse in the Arts District, but it lands squarely on the brand that built its West Hollywood reputation on discretion, exclusivity and a no-cameras culture that made members feel safe.
That reputation is now taking a hit.
A former bartender who filed under the name Jane Doe started working at Berenjak, the restaurant inside Soho Warehouse in downtown LA, in September 2025. Within two weeks, she says a supervisor named Leonard Marcelo Vichique Maya had already propositioned her, told her she’d “be pregnant by now” if they’d met sooner, and made comments about her appearance in front of other staff and colleagues. She reported his conduct to two male supervisors, including Soho House’s floor manager and food and beverage director. Neither took action.
Then came the night of Sept. 13.
After a team-bonding event with supervisors and co-workers, Doe says she became disoriented after drinking with the group, eventually losing consciousness, and woke up in Vichique Maya’s apartment without clothes on. The lawsuit describes what allegedly followed: “Paralyzed and speechless despite her consciousness slowly returning, Plaintiff was condemned to simply watch in horror as MARCELO repeatedly raped her inanimate body.”
The next morning she reported to her floor manager that Vichique Maya had sexually assaulted her. Her general manager, according to the filing, first acknowledged that Vichique Maya “appeared to be preying” on her during the work event. Then he told her: “These things happen between coworkers.” When she said she couldn’t keep working alongside him, the same manager shut her down. “I have a restaurant to run. I can’t have it blow up on me.”
It blew up.
Despite telling three managers she’d been raped, Doe was continuously scheduled for shifts with Vichique Maya, during which she says he continued to sexually harass her. In December she filed a formal complaint with Soho House HR. She was assured an investigation would be opened and “immediate corrective action” taken. Instead, she was placed on indefinite leave while Vichique Maya kept working. A month later HR told her the rape allegation was “uncorroborated” and that he “would not be disciplined.” She quit in February. LAPD confirmed it’s investigating. No criminal charges have been filed.
Her attorney Nick Yasman at West Coast Trial Lawyers called it “as egregious an instance of callous corporate indifference to workplace sexual violence that anyone can experience.” Soho House put out a statement saying the incident didn’t happen on company property or during work hours, and that after an internal investigation “decisive and appropriate actions were taken.” The company didn’t say what those actions were. The suit names Vichique Maya, Soho House, Soho House Los Angeles, and Soho Warehouse as defendants and seeks a jury trial.
About Soho House West Hollywood
Soho House has had a location at 9200 Sunset Blvd. since 2010, its first Los Angeles location and one of its flagship properties. The club sits on the upper floors of Luckman Plaza at the edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, with sweeping views of the city, a rooftop garden, a 50-seat screening room, and a members-only community that’s long drawn heavily from the film and TV industry. Soho House launched in London in 1995 and now operates 48 locations across 19 countries, drawing high-profile investors over the years including billionaire Ron Burkle through his Yucaipa fund. A second WeHo location, Soho House Holloway, opened on Holloway Drive in 2022 in the former Palihouse building
The brand went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 but spent years struggling to turn a profit. Last year it went private again, selling to a group of investors including Apollo Global Management and Ashton Kutcher, who also joined the board, at a $2.7 billion valuation.
Last fall, as WEHOonline reported, Soho House began quietly cutting members at its West Hollywood, New York, and Miami Beach locations, removing people who no longer fit its creative-industry profile. Annual membership runs about $5,800.
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I have always regretted that Charlie and Harriett Luvkman ever allowed their once penthouse home to be sold off to this group of awful people. I am a member of various social and entertainment clubs here and in New York. And this type of behavior is intolerable as it reflects on the members when management fails to protect its guests as much as staff. Be it the Union Club, the Lambs, what was the Regency pt LAGC or California Club this is going to impact members and this why I left SoHo after finding the staff, years ago unprofessional and… Read more »