SACRAMENTO, California — The former employee who accused state Treasurer Fiona Ma of sexual harassment will drop the complaint against her and settle other claims, ending a three-year civil court case that threatened to derail the state official as she mounts a campaign for lieutenant governor, both parties confirmed Thursday.
The request for dismissal, seen by POLITICO and set to be filed at the Sacramento Superior Court on Friday, comes before a trial that was scheduled for Sept. 9. The former employee, Judith Blackwell, had sued Ma and the State Treasurer’s Office in 2021 alleging a swath of claims including sexual harassment, racial discrimination and wrongful termination, accusing the treasurer of exposing herself and crawling into bed with her when they shared a hotel room.
Throughout the case Ma has maintained her innocence, and had been pushing for a trial to dismiss what she called “completely false and frivolous” claims. The court tossed the allegations of racial discrimination and wrongful termination last year. After months of trial delays, the move by Blackwell’s lawyers this week relieves Ma of the sexual harassment complaint.
The state also reached a separate settlement agreement with Blackwell of $350,000, the California Department of Justice confirmed, releasing the State Treasurer’s Office of any allegations of wrongdoing.
“They knew they didn’t have a chance because they have no witnesses, they have no corroborating evidence,” Ma said in an interview with POLITICO.
Ma’s attorney Ognian Gavrilov added in a statement: “This is a complete victory for the treasurer. We were ready to have the truth be brought to light in the courtroom, but the attorneys for the plaintiff clearly did not want a trial and instead dropped all of their causes of action against Treasurer Ma.”
A lawyer for Blackwell said in a statement that she is “pleased to have reached an amicable resolution of her case, and is looking forward to moving on with her life.”
Ma got her start in San Francisco city politics and worked her way up through the state Legislature before becoming the chief banker for the world’s fifth-largest economy. Now, running for lieutenant governor in 2026, she’s hoping to become the first Asian American woman to get the gig.
In her interview with POLITICO, Ma said she’s looking forward to moving on to “bigger issues of the state.”
“And as elected officials, obviously this is something that we are vulnerable to — lawsuits,” she said. “Now that I have a good lawyer, I feel much better moving forward.”