In a significant legal development that avoids a high-profile public trial, eXp Realty, its founder Glenn Sanford, and the technology company AGNT have reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging sex trafficking and sexual assault. The notice of settlement was filed on Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, coming less than 24 hours before the scheduled commencement of the trial.
The resolution marks a critical turning point in a case that has cast a long shadow over one of the real estate industry’s fastest-growing brokerages. While the settlement effectively removes the immediate threat of a public trial for the corporate defendants and their leadership, the legal proceedings are far from over. Claims against two former agents, Michael Bjorkman and David Golden, who are at the center of the underlying assault allegations, remain pending and were not part of this specific settlement.
The timing of the settlement is particularly notable. Legal observers had anticipated that the trial would provide a rare and potentially damaging look into the internal culture and corporate oversight mechanisms of eXp Realty. By reaching an agreement on the eve of the trial, the defendants have avoided a proceeding that would have likely placed agent conduct, recruitment practices, and executive responsibility under intense judicial and public scrutiny.
The Settlement and the Path to Trial
The notice of settlement filed on Sunday brings a conclusion to the specific claims against eXp World Holdings (the parent company of eXp Realty), AGNT, and Glenn Sanford, who served as the CEO of both entities. The settlement follows a period of intense legal maneuvering and a series of rulings that shaped the scope of the potential trial.
In the months leading up to the scheduled trial date, the court had been tasked with weighing the extent of corporate liability for the actions of independent contractor agents. In August, the court granted partial summary judgment to some of the claims filed against AGNT and Sanford. However, the court did not release eXp Realty from the claims at that time. Because all three defendants still faced pending claims that could not be resolved through summary judgment, the case was set to proceed to a jury trial.
The lawsuit’s progression through the court system has been marked by several iterations of the complaint. Sanford and the eXp defendants had originally been dismissed from a version of the complaint in May 2024. However, the plaintiffs successfully introduced an amended complaint that dragged the corporate entities and the founder back into the litigation. This back-and-forth highlighted the complex legal questions regarding the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and how it applies to corporate entities that may have benefited from or ignored patterns of predatory behavior.
While the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed and confidential, the move suggests a strategic decision by the defendants to mitigate the risks associated with a public trial. A trial would have likely involved testimony regarding the brokerage’s knowledge of agent behavior and its response to previous complaints, potentially creating a precedent for how real estate companies manage the risks associated with large-scale recruiting events and social gatherings.
