Bitter Rivalry Between Two Silicon Valley Fintech Lenders

American Banker reports on a bitter rivalry that has been brewing between James Gutierrez and his former company Oportun; Gutierrez has filed a lawsuit accusing Oportun, a company he founded in 2005 and was CEO until his ouster in 2012, and its investors of verbal abuse, discriminating against him on the basis of race and fostering a hostile work environment; Oportun has hit back with allegations that Gutierrez misappropriated corporate funds during his tenure, and also abused his position as CEO to use company employees as personal chauffeurs and to help plan his wedding. Source.

  • Peter Renton

    Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of Fintech Nexus, the world’s largest digital media company focused on fintech. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series.