In April 2022, Newsom administration attorney Melanie Proctor came forward with an explosive allegation: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D., Calif.) office was meddling in a high-profile sexual discrimination lawsuit his own administration had brought against the video game developer Activision. Proctor, who worked the case, said Newsom’s office had demanded advance notice of California’s litigation strategy and abruptly fired the administration’s lead prosecutor, actions Proctor claimed were “mimicking the interests of Activision’s counsel.”
Newsom’s office said at the time that Proctor’s allegations were “categorically false.” But buried deep in the criminal indictment last week of Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, prosecutors presented evidence spelling out how she helped sabotage California’s litigation against “Corporation 1,” which several news outlets have identified as Activision, a company Newsom shared deep ties with.
“Vindicated,” Proctor posted on her LinkedIn page after Williamson’s indictment.
Williamson served as a paid adviser to Activision in 2022 when Proctor came forward with her allegations, and federal prosecutors say one of the first actions Williamson took when she became Newsom’s chief of staff in January 2023 was to direct a “high-level government attorney to move the litigation to a different part of state government and get it settled.” She also passed information about the case to an Activision executive and other operatives of the video game developer “in a manner beneficial” to the company, prosecutors said.
The allegations in Williamson’s indictment surrounding her interference in the Activision case seemingly confirm the crux of Proctor’s whistleblowing allegations, and may contextualize reporting from the Los Angeles Times and comments from Williamson’s lawyer that the Biden FBI had tried to pressure Williamson into implicating Newsom in an undisclosed probe. Activision admitted no wrongdoing when it settled the sexual discrimination case in December 2023, which the Wall Street Journal described as a “surrender” by the Newsom administration.
The mention of Activision in Williamson’s indictment could spell political trouble for Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 presidential candidate and has faced allegations of using the powers of his office for the benefit of his financial supporters. It’s the only aspect of Williamson’s charging document that could conceivably implicate the governor. The rest of her charges relate to the alleged role she played in a fraudulent scheme to siphon funds from a campaign account owned by former health and human services secretary Xavier Becerra.
Williamson’s attorney told Politico she refused to play ball with the FBI because she had no knowledge of any misconduct by Newsom. In the days following Williamson’s indictment, the FBI sent letters to several members of the Newsom administration and lobbyists in California and Washington, D.C., notifying them that their communications had been intercepted during the course of the investigation, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Newsom said during an interview Wednesday that Williamson’s indictment came as a “real surprise and shock” to him. The governor added he does not believe he was the intended target of the FBI’s probe.
“I don’t know anything about that and whatever that assertion is,” Newsom said. “That was certainly not reflected in the indictment itself. There’s nothing specific in that respect, or at least connects me.”
California filed suit against Activision in 2021, accusing the company of cultivating a “frat boy atmosphere” that discriminated against female employees. Activision settled with California in late 2023 for $55 million, a tiny fraction of the nearly $1 billion the state had initially claimed the company could be liable for. California conceded it couldn’t prove Activision engaged in any sexual discrimination, and the company admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.
Former Activision CEO Robert Kotick cited the settlement as evidence he was defamed in a lawsuit he filed in March against a prominent media company that reported on the allegations.
As for Newsom, his ties with Activision run deep. Then-Activision director Casey Wasserman contributed $100,000 to Newsom’s recall campaign just weeks after the Newsom administration filed its suit against the video game developer in 2021. Around the same time, Wasserman co-chaired a fundraising event that raised more than $1 million for Newsom’s recall defense. Wasserman now serves on the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympics, and in January, Newsom tapped him to help lead a private sector initiative to support Los Angeles wildfire recovery efforts.
Alleged interference from Newsom’s office in the Activision case began long before Williamson became his chief of staff in January 2023, according to records Proctor posted to social media.
Activision representatives met with senior Newsom administration officials in March 2022, just weeks before Proctor said the Newsom administration fired Janette Wipper, the head of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, who at the time was leading the litigation against Activision. And in early April 2022, before news of Wipper’s termination was made public, an Activision lobbyist submitted a public records request seeking records regarding Wipper’s “termination from the agency,” the Proctor records show.
“The Office of the Governor repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation,” Proctor wrote in her April 2022 resignation letter. “As we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision’s counsel.”
Kotick retired from Activision shortly after it settled with California. Weeks later, on Jan. 16, 2024, Kotick met with Williamson for 45 minutes in Newsom’s office, according to the records Proctor posted to social media.
California’s settlement with Activision could pay dividends for Kotick, who filed a lawsuit against the news company G/O Media in March, alleging it defamed him by lying about the allegations of sexual discrimination at Activision under his leadership. The former CEO cited Activision’s settlement with California in his lawsuit as evidence the allegations were false and that he was defamed.
At least two of Williamson’s co-conspirators also share ties with Activision, which was acquired by Microsoft in October 2023. Alexis Podesta, a Sacramento-based political consultant, confirmed to news outlets she is the second co-conspirator in the Williamson indictment. Prosecutors said Activision was Podesta’s client in June 2024 when she and Williamson discussed a public records request that Proctor had submitted for documents that could have shed light on Newsom’s involvement in the case.
“I am fucked if I have to produce all of that,” Williamson told Podesta during that conversation, according to her indictment.
Another co-conspirator, Greg Campbell, is also tied to Activision. The video game developer reported paying $240,000 to Campbell’s firm in 2023 and 2024, according to California’s lobbying database. That firm, Campbell Strategy & Advocacy, is “Company D” in the Williamson indictment, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Newsom’s office would not say if it stands by its 2022 statement that Proctor’s allegations were “categorically false.”
“Ms. Williamson no longer serves in this administration,” a Newsom spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon. “While we are still learning details of the allegations, the governor expects all public servants to uphold the highest standards of integrity. At a time when the president is openly calling for his attorney general to investigate his political enemies, it is especially important to honor the American principle of being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law by a jury of one’s peers.”
