Inside Silicon Valley’s ‘whisper network’ warning women about 100+ alleged predators

A private spreadsheet containing the names of more than 100 people accused of sexual misconduct is circulating among women in Silicon Valley, according to a report by the New York Post.The allegations range from drugging and sexual assault to rape. The closely guarded document is being used as an informal warning system for women navigating the tech and venture-capital world, where insiders say reporting misconduct can carry career risks.NY Post, citing multiple Silicon Valley insiders, reported that the list includes prominent investors, businessmen and people connected to major technology and artificial-intelligence companies. One tech worker in her 20s told the paper she discovered the document after speaking about her own experience and was invited to add her account.The existence of the list, however, does not establish the allegations against the people named in it. NY Post itself noted that verifying the authenticity of the accounts was a separate question, while its follow-up report said multiple versions of such lists have circulated in the Bay Area over the years because of concerns about both misconduct and the risk of spreading unverified allegations.Several women interviewed by NY Post said they were reluctant to approach police or publicly identify alleged attackers because of the influence of people in the technology and investment ecosystem.One woman said that she feared that pursuing her case and losing could leave her “blacklisted” by investors across Silicon Valley. Another insider described a culture in which social relationships can overlap with housing, investment, employment and professional introductions, making it harder for people to simply walk away from someone they accuse of misconduct.NY Post reported that several of the incidents described were occurring in so-called “hacker houses”, communal living spaces popular among founders, engineers and aspiring entrepreneurs.Rape allegations at San Francisco ‘hacker house’One of the women who has spoken publicly about the issue is Yehong Zhu, she told NY Post that she reported a former member of the San Francisco hacker house Genesis to police in December 2021, accusing him of rape and assault.Zhu said the man was someone she had considered a friend and that she had repeatedly told him no. She also said people within their social and business circle were reluctant to help her locate him.An attorney for Genesis founder Jeremy Nixon told NY Post that Nixon was unaware of the specific situation Zhu described, but would support law enforcement and prioritise safety.Zhu later posted on X about another woman's experience at The Muse, a San Francisco community house, describing it as part of what she called the darker side of the city's communal-living culture. In the post, she urged people connected to The Muse or considering living there to read and share the survivor's account.The woman whose account Zhu shared described joining The Muse during a three-month trial period while looking for community and stability. In her written account, she alleged that a male resident offered her a ketamine-assisted session in January 2025.She said she made clear while sober that she did not want to have sex. She alleged that the man subsequently gave her several doses of ketamine while remaining sober himself, leaving her heavily impaired, and later had sex with her.The woman said that after she reported what happened to one of the house's founders, her account was described to others as a “grey area” and she was encouraged to participate in a mediated conversation with the man she accused. She also alleged that he was later allowed back into the community while she was still living there.The woman's account also alleges that she was eventually asked to leave the house, while she believed the community was more concerned with preserving its internal relationships than addressing her complaint. She has asked The Muse to publicly acknowledge what happened and explain what steps it would take to prevent similar incidents.NY Post also reported a contrasting account from a former resident of Launch House, another founder community. The woman said she suspected she had been drugged at a gathering and later heard from other women that the same man had allegedly behaved inappropriately toward them.The women later approached the house's founders together, after which the man was removed and the locks were changed. She chose not to go to the police because she could not remember enough of the incident to establish what had happened.A wider problem of reporting and retaliationThe controversy around the private spreadsheet has also brought renewed attention to the informal systems women use when they believe formal channels will not protect them.NY Post reported that 11 additional women came forward after its first story about the Silicon Valley list, with allegations involving sexual assault, retaliation and professional consequences. Tracy DeTomasi, CEO of the now-shuttered nonprofit Callisto, which helped survivors anonymously identify possible links between their attackers, said women needed ways to share information while also holding institutions accountable.Callisto stopped accepting new users in July after about 4,000 survivors had opened accounts, according to the Post. The organisation's closure has added another dimension to concerns about the shrinking infrastructure available to people reporting sexual violence.Private lists can offer women a way to warn one another when they fear retaliation. But they also carry an obvious risk: allegations that have not been independently verified can spread without the safeguards of a police investigation, court proceeding or formal disciplinary process.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.