Peter Thiel’s Husband Sued a Flight Attendant Who Says He Assaulted Her on a Private Jet
Peter Thiel’s Husband Sued a Flight Attendant Who Says He Assaulted Her on a Private Jet
彼得·蒂尔的丈夫起诉了一名空乘人员，该空乘称在私人飞机上遭其殴打
The private jet Peter Thiel and his family were using had two bathrooms, but somehow, on July 13, 2024, neither was readily available. One in the back of the jet was stuffed with luggage. The other, according to one court filing, was being used to store cooler bags with food and kitchen equipment. What happened next has become the subject of a federal lawsuit featuring claims of an alleged assault as well as disputes over workers’ compensation and whether a confidentiality agreement can stop a former flight attendant from suing the husband of one of the planet’s richest people.
彼得·蒂尔（Peter Thiel）及其家人当时乘坐的私人飞机上有两个洗手间，但不知何故，在2024年7月13日那天，两个洗手间都无法使用。机尾的一个洗手间塞满了行李；据一份法庭文件显示，另一个洗手间则被用来存放装有食物和厨房设备的冷藏袋。随后发生的事情成为了一起联邦诉讼的主题，案件涉及殴打指控、工伤赔偿纠纷，以及保密协议是否能阻止一名前空乘人员起诉这位全球首富之一的丈夫。
Stefanie Bojar, the flight attendant at the center of the dispute, was employed by Solairus Aviation—which did not immediately respond to a request for comment—but had worked more than 200 flights for Thiel and his husband, Matthew Danzeisen. On that July flight, Bojar says, Danzeisen—who is also the head of private investments at Thiel Capital—shoved her aside and threw multiple heavy cooler bags at her, knocking her into the aircraft wall and leaving her collapsed on the cabin floor. She claims that Danzeisen’s actions caused serious injuries to her ankle and knee.
处于争议中心的空乘人员斯蒂芬妮·博贾尔（Stefanie Bojar）受雇于 Solairus Aviation（该公司未立即回应置评请求），她曾为蒂尔及其丈夫马修·丹泽森（Matthew Danzeisen）服务过200多次飞行。博贾尔称，在那次7月的飞行中，同时担任蒂尔资本（Thiel Capital）私人投资负责人的丹泽森将她推开，并向她投掷了多个沉重的冷藏袋，导致她撞向机舱壁并瘫倒在机舱地板上。她声称丹泽森的行为导致她的脚踝和膝盖严重受伤。
Danzeisen says he was clearing bags from the bathroom so one of his children could use it. At most, he says, one of the bags may have accidentally brushed Bojar’s leg. (Like the other claims in this story attributed to Bojar and Danzeisen, these were made in court filings.)
丹泽森则表示，他当时只是在清理洗手间里的袋子，以便他的孩子使用。他称，充其量可能有一个袋子不小心碰到了博贾尔的腿。（与本文中归于博贾尔和丹泽森的其他主张一样，这些说法均出自法庭文件。）
In May, Danzeisen preemptively sued Bojar in the Central District of California’s Southern Division—after, he says, she sent a “demand letter” several months earlier. While one of Bojar’s attorneys, Elliott Jung, tells WIRED the letter was an attempt to resolve the dispute outside courts, Danzeisen’s complaint describes Bojar as waging “a campaign to extort” him and his husband. Characterizing Bojar as a former flight attendant with a checkered aviation career, the complaint accuses her of launching a “defamation campaign” and violating a confidentiality agreement, and asks the court to essentially impose a gag order and award actual and punitive damages.
今年5月，丹泽森在加州中区联邦地区法院南部法庭先发制人地起诉了博贾尔——他称这是因为博贾尔在几个月前寄出了一封“索赔信”。尽管博贾尔的律师之一埃利奥特·荣（Elliott Jung）告诉《连线》（WIRED），这封信是试图在庭外解决纠纷，但丹泽森的诉状却称博贾尔正在对他及其丈夫发起一场“勒索运动”。诉状将博贾尔描述为一名职业生涯有污点的空乘人员，指控她发起“诽谤运动”并违反了保密协议，并要求法院实施禁言令，同时判给实际赔偿和惩罚性赔偿。
Bojar denied the allegations in a counterclaim filed Tuesday, adding Thiel Capital as a defendant and alleging battery, assault, emotional distress, and negligent supervision. Rejecting the characterization of her career as “checkered,” she alleges that Thiel Capital personnel helped coordinate the private aviation account on which she worked, knew or should have known about Danzeisen’s alleged conduct toward flight crew, and failed to intervene before or after the July 2024 incident.
博贾尔在周二提交的反诉中否认了这些指控，并将蒂尔资本列为被告，指控其存在殴打、人身攻击、精神伤害和监管疏忽。她反驳了对其职业生涯“有污点”的描述，并声称蒂尔资本的工作人员协助协调了她所服务的私人航空账户，他们知道或理应知道丹泽森对机组人员的所谓行为，却在2024年7月的事件发生前后均未进行干预。
In an interview, Bojar’s attorney called Danzeisen’s preemptive lawsuit a “bullying tactic” designed to intimidate a former flight attendant who had been injured on a plane. “Just because you have wealth,” Jung said, “doesn’t mean that you have the right to just hurt people.”
在接受采访时，博贾尔的律师称丹泽森的先发制人诉讼是一种“霸凌策略”，旨在恐吓一名在飞机上受伤的前空乘人员。“仅仅因为你有钱，”荣说，“并不意味着你有权伤害他人。”
“This is a shakedown about a bag that bumped into someone’s leg, and we do not pay out to shakedowns,” said Alex Spiro, an attorney for Danzeisen, in a statement. “So we will see everyone in court.”
“这是一场关于一个袋子碰到某人腿部的勒索，我们不会向勒索屈服，”丹泽森的律师亚历克斯·斯皮罗（Alex Spiro）在一份声明中表示。“所以，我们法庭见。”
According to both filings, the flight was scheduled to travel from Sun Valley, Idaho, to Washington, DC, on July 13, 2024, coincidently the same day Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. But the plane had a serious storage problem.
根据双方的法庭文件，该航班原定于2024年7月13日从爱达荷州太阳谷飞往华盛顿特区，巧合的是，当天正是唐纳德·特朗普在宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒的竞选集会上遭遇暗杀未遂的日子。但飞机当时存在严重的存储问题。
Bojar says a personal assistant of Thiel told the crew that the family’s luggage would arrive in two deliveries, disrupting the usual process of loading bags before passengers boarded. With no ground assistance, Bojar, the pilot, and the first officer had to load and organize the bags themselves.
博贾尔称，蒂尔的一名私人助理告诉机组人员，家人的行李将分两次送达，这打乱了乘客登机前装载行李的常规流程。由于没有地面协助，博贾尔、飞行员和副驾驶不得不亲自装载和整理行李。
By the time Thiel’s family boarded, Bojar says, the cabin was tightly packed. According to her filing, excess luggage blocked the rear bathroom, while the front bathroom was being used as overflow storage for cooler bags and kitchen equipment from a private chef.
博贾尔说，当蒂尔一家登机时，机舱已经塞得满满当当。根据她的文件，多余的行李堵住了后洗手间，而前洗手间则被用作存放私人厨师的冷藏袋和厨房设备的溢出存储空间。
Bojar says that when Danzeisen asked to use a restroom for one of his children, the first officer allegedly told him it would take about five minutes to clear the rear bathroom. (Danzeisen’s lawsuit does not mention this.) In Bojar’s account, Danzeisen did not wait. She says he grew angry, demanded immediate access to the front bathroom, and, as she tried to move the bags, shoved her aside and threw multiple heavy cooler bags at her, striking her left ankle, foot, and leg and knocking her into the aircraft wall.
博贾尔称，当丹泽森要求为他的一个孩子使用洗手间时，副驾驶告诉他清理后洗手间大约需要五分钟。（丹泽森的诉讼中未提及此事。）据博贾尔描述，丹泽森并没有等待。她说他变得愤怒，要求立即使用前洗手间，当她试图移动袋子时，他将她推开，并向她投掷了多个沉重的冷藏袋，击中了她的左脚踝、脚和腿，并将她撞向机舱壁。
According to the counterclaim, Danzeisen then threw a grocery bag containing food and beverages, spilling food across the cabin, before shutting himself and one of his children inside the bathroom “as though nothing had happened.” Bojar alleges the captain was “visibly shocked,” exclaimed aloud in disbelief, and physically pulled the cooler bags off of Bojar while she was collapsed on the floor. According to her counterclaim, Peter Thiel observed Bojar on the floor in the immediate aftermath.
根据反诉，丹泽森随后扔出了一个装有食品和饮料的购物袋，导致食物洒满机舱，然后将自己和一个孩子关在洗手间里，“仿佛什么都没发生过一样”。博贾尔声称机长当时“明显感到震惊”，大声惊呼表示难以置信，并在她瘫倒在地板上时，亲手将冷藏袋从她身上移开。根据她的反诉，彼得·蒂尔在事发后立即目睹了博贾尔倒在地上的情景。
Bojar says an MRI later showed a torn tendon in her left ankle, which required surgery and ongoing treatment. She also alleges that the injury, along with psychological harm from the incident, temporarily left her unable to work as a flight attendant.
博贾尔称，后来的核磁共振检查显示她左脚踝肌腱撕裂，需要手术和持续治疗。她还声称，这次伤害以及事件带来的心理创伤，使她暂时无法继续担任空乘工作。
Danzeisen’s complaint gives a much less dramatic version. He says he was simply trying to “clear” “soft fabric” cooler bags, which he claims contained food, from the front bathroom so his child could use it. According to the complaint, the first officer and the family’s nanny were nearby and saw him hunched over on his knees, facing into the bathroom, moving the bags behind him.
丹泽森的诉状给出了一个平淡得多的版本。他说他只是试图从前洗手间“清理”出一些“软布”冷藏袋（他声称里面装的是食物），以便他的孩子使用。根据诉状，副驾驶和家里的保姆当时就在附近，看到他跪着弯下腰，面向洗手间，将袋子移到身后。
The complaint accuses Bojar of fabricating her “grave injury,” characterizing the moment as so minor that no one realized a bag may have touched Bojar at all. Danzeisen alleges that Bojar later told another employee she hoped Thiel would see her limp. (She denies this in her counterclaim.) Danzeisen’s complaint also argues that Bojar already treated the incident as a workplace injury by seeking and receiving workers’ comp.
诉状指控博贾尔捏造了她的“严重伤害”，并将那一刻描述得极其轻微，以至于没有人意识到袋子可能碰到了博贾尔。丹泽森声称，博贾尔后来告诉另一名员工，她希望蒂尔能看到她一瘸一拐的样子。（她在反诉中否认了这一点。）丹泽森的诉状还辩称，博贾尔已经通过申请并获得工伤赔偿，将该事件视为工伤。