Mother-of-three branded 'candy toes' by sexist boss has only received half of her £100,000 payout 18 months on
Mother-of-three Louise Crabtree, 50, was bombarded with inappropriate texts, comments and gifts – including a diamond ring – by Marc Bandemer during the 14 months she worked for his finance company, Integer Wealth Global.
A tribunal heard that Mr Bandemer, who is ten years her senior and married, complimented her 'great little body' in a swimsuit and referred to her as his 'second wife' in business meetings.
He also suggested they buy a 'love nest' together in Cyprus – all of which left her feeling 'degraded and uncomfortable'.
Despite Mr Bandemer being ordered to pay the sum in January last year, Ms Crabtree says he has paid only £50,000 – even though she took out a court writ and sent bailiffs to his address in Basingstoke at least ten times.
Ms Crabtree, who lives in Romsey, Hampshire, said: 'This whole episode has been so humiliating for me, and all I want is closure. It has taken such a toll emotionally and physically, as well as causing ongoing financial strain and impacting my ability to work.
'But in refusing to pay what he owes, his behaviour is compounding what I went through and is ultimately a continuation of the abuse I suffered when I worked for him. It's another way of him exerting control over me and he doesn't want to give in.'
She began working for him in April 2021 and he quickly began saying inappropriate things, often in front of clients, calling her 'candy toes' and saying: 'Don't you think she's gorgeous?'
Salary increases left her feeling 'groomed', she said.
But the 'final straw' came when Mr Bandemer appeared to invite her into his hotel room on a business trip to Luxembourg, and put his hand on her knee in front of her teenage daughter.
After she stood up to him, she was fired in June 2022 without any notice. Ms Crabtree says he failed to respond to any attempts to contact him after the tribunal, forcing her to take out the writ and send in bailiffs.
This was suspended when he agreed to pay the sum – but after making three instalments totalling £50,000, he stopped in June 2024.
She says Mr Bandemer's wife, Lioni, has attempted to stall the bailiffs by claiming the couple are estranged, that he was no longer living at their Basingstoke flat and was instead overseas in Cyprus.
But Ms Crabtree says: 'I proved to the court this was impossible by downloading 60 photographs of him from his Facebook page, which showed him being in and around Basingstoke every week.
'They're now out of appeals, and he's ignoring the bailiffs by not answering the door.'
Last night, Mr Bandemer told the Mail: 'I dispute a considerable amount of what Louise has told the tribunal and do not accept that I have ever touched her inappropriately or suggested anything sexual.
'I have only paid half of the tribunal sum, but that's because Louise has failed to return some company tech. When she does so, she will get the remaining money.'
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She felt the same when she spoke to the New York Times' Jodi Kantor about Weinstein eight years ago, breaking her NDA and sparking a chain reaction that would eventually lead to his incarceration. 'But what I didn't realise in 2017, when I was 45, was that I was a grownup,' she says. 'Because I'd been silent for 23 years, I thought nobody could hear me or see me, and I was stupid. I did not believe that I had any right or power to make any change.' When the change she wanted – even expected – to see didn't happen, however, she kept going. She enlisted a 'ferocious team of female allies' across the campaigning and political sphere – including, but not limited to, the former Conservative minister Maria Miller, Labour's Jess Phillips and Louise Haigh, and the Liberal Democrats' Layla Moran in the House of Commons, Helena Morrissey and Helena Kennedy in the Lords, former TUC boss Frances O'Grady in the unions and Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, on the campaign front. 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