PayPal restricts parts of its $535 million investment program to Black and Hispanic applicants, accusing the digital payments company of racial bias for causing millions of dollars in damages to Asian Americans A lawsuit has been filed by an American businessman.
Thursday's complaint was Nisha Desai Her New York-based venture capital firm, Andav Capital, is part of a growing movement among some conservatives to scale back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in corporate America.
Desai, who was born and raised in the Deep South to immigrant parents, knew he was a good fit for PayPal. investment programwas announced by the San Jose, California-based company in June 2020 to support Black and minority-owned businesses and address economic inequality.
Desai said that even though PayPal had invested $100 million in 19 black and Hispanic-led venture capital firms, it took him a month and a half to raise money before PayPal stopped communicating with him.
She said PayPal told several other businessmen that they were ineligible for funding because they were of Asian descent.
“To PayPal and its executives, Asian Americans may be a minority, but they are the wrong kind of minority,” the complaint in Manhattan federal court says.
PayPal declined to comment and said it does not discuss pending litigation.
Desai accused PayPal of violating Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits racial bias in contracts. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal funds from condoning racial discrimination, and the New York State and City Human Rights Law.
She is seeking unspecified damages and a ban on PayPal considering race and ethnicity in its investment programs.
Desai said the federal appeals court in Manhattan filed a similar lawsuit last March against pharmaceutical company Pfizer over a fellowship program for Black, Hispanic and Indigenous peoples. After the court ruled that there was no standing to sue, the lawsuit was filed. I was hurt.
Desai is represented by Consovoy McCarthy, who is the president of Do No Harm and often advocates for conservative causes.
The law firm did not respond to a request for comment.
The case is Andav Capital et al. v. PayPal Holdings Inc. et al., United States District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-00033.
