PayPal has been sued by an Asian American businesswoman who accused the digital payments company of racial bias for restricting part of a $535 million investment program to Black and Hispanic applicants, costing her millions of dollars.
Thursday's complaint by Nisha Desai and her New York-based venture capital firm Andav Capital is part of a growing push among some conservatives to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in corporate America.
Born to and raised by immigrant parents in the Deep South, Desai thought herself a good fit for PayPal's investment program, which the San Jose, California-based company announced in June 2020 to support Black and minority-owned businesses and help address economic inequality.
Desai said she spent 1-1/2 months seeking funding before PayPal stopped communicating, even as the company invested $100 million in 19 venture capital firms led by Blacks and Hispanics.
She said PayPal has told multiple other businesswomen they were ineligible for funding because of their Asian descent.