Startup CEO Fired for LSD Use Claims Discrimination in Lawsuit (1)

The former chief executive of a high-flying technology startup who was fired for using LSD sued the company and some of its venture backers, claiming the real reason for his termination was his East Asian background.

Justin Zhu, who was fired from Iterable Inc. last year after disagreements with his investors, claims in a complaint filed in state court in San Francisco that the company’s stated reason for firing him, that he violated company policy by using an illegal drug, was “pretextual and a subterfuge.”

His firing came after the issue of discriminationagainst Asian Americans became a national conversation following the 2021 killings of eight people ...