Location: Illinois, US
hi everyone. so i’m an undergrad student searching for jobs/internships and i applied for an intern position at an AI startup. the CEO messaged me and we set up an initial online interview. during the interview, he didn’t have his camera on, which was weird. he also asked about my age at a certain point after i mentioned being a young, inexperienced person in the workforce and then said “age is just a number.” at the end of the interview he said that we can schedule the next round after i sign an NDA, because he was going to tell me confidential information regarding the full-stack of the AI he’s building. he then asked for proof of my address under my name so he can verify my identify and send over the NDA.
stupidly, i emailed him the documents. he sent over the NDA and i signed it after reading over it. while we’re emailing back and forth, i search him on google again and a few pages down i find his criminal record. i didn’t find it at first because he goes under a different first name now. not only that, but he is a registered sex offender for assaulting an 18 year old girl when he was 27. so i politely email him and tell him i am pursuing a different opportunity and wont be continuing with his company. he sends an email back saying he “wished i was more transparent before signing the NDA,” and honestly, i got pissed, and emailed back saying i wish he were more transparent before i signed the NDA, too. i attached screenshots of his arrest and sex registry page.
he then emailed me a “cease and desist” from his company email, accusing me of violating the NDA, defamation, harassment, and causing emotional distress. i had my sister (an experienced paralegal) read over it, and she actually laughed. she said he has no case and he used chatgpt to write it because it’s not signed by a lawyer or written in an official pdf.
i’m honestly still a little worried. people sue over nothing these days. would he actually have a case?
note: my field is going through a huge unemployment crisis right now and i’m honestly desperate for a job, which is why i ignored the red flags. i definitely learned my lesson for next time.