With less than 24 hours to spare before the scheduled start of a high-stakes sex trafficking and assault trial, the plaintiffs have reached a settlement with eXp Realty, AGNT, and former AGNT and eXp Realty CEO Glenn Sanford.

The agreement, filed on Sunday in the U.S. District Court in California, averts what was poised to be a closely watched courtroom battle. The impending trial carried significant reputational and operational risks for the corporate entities involved, placing corporate oversight, agent conduct, and brokerage responsibility squarely under a public microscope. Despite the eleventh-hour resolution for these specific defendants, however, the broader litigation is far from over, as claims against other central figures in the lawsuit remain active and unresolved.

The sudden settlement follows a series of critical legal developments in the case. Earlier, the court granted partial summary judgment to some of the claims brought against AGNT and Sanford in a filing from August. However, eXp Realty was not released from liability through that particular ruling, meaning all three defendants still faced active claims that would have gone before a jury had a deal not been struck.

By settling, eXp Realty, AGNT, and Glenn Sanford have successfully avoided the immediate exposure of a public trial. Such a proceeding likely would have forced top executives to testify about corporate governance policies, the boundaries of brokerage liability for independent contractor behavior, and the oversight mechanisms in place during corporate-sponsored and affiliated networking events. Yet, because the financial and legal terms of the settlement have not been publicly disclosed, vital questions remain regarding what the resolution ultimately signals for brokerage risk management moving forward.

How We Got Here

The underlying litigation stems from serious allegations first brought to light in December 2023. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff, known in court documents as Roberts, was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted by former eXp agents David Golden and Michael Bjorkman. The incident allegedly occurred during a company recruiting event held in February 2020.

In the complaint, Roberts states that she lost consciousness after consuming a pill she was told was Adderall. Based on subsequent witness accounts and her own fragmented memories of the night, she later concluded that both Golden and Bjorkman had raped her. Neither Golden nor Bjorkman maintains any current affiliation with eXp Realty.

The legal journey of the case has been marked by numerous procedural twists, amended complaints, and shifting defendant rosters. Event host Brent Gove previously settled the claims against him earlier in the year, removing himself from the active pool of defendants. Meanwhile, Glenn Sanford and the eXp corporate entities had experienced earlier victories when they were dismissed from a prior iteration of the complaint in May 2024. However, the plaintiffs successfully brought them back into the litigation by filing an amended complaint that reintroduced allegations against the corporate leadership and associated entities.

While the settlement brings closure to the corporate entities and their former chief executive, the legal battle continues for the remaining defendants. Claims against former agents accused of direct involvement in the alleged assault and sex trafficking—including Michael Bjorkman and David Golden—remain entirely pending.

As the case moves forward without eXp Realty, AGNT, and Sanford at the defense table, representatives for AGNT did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the settlement terms. With the trial schedule disrupted by the Sunday filing, attention now turns to how the remaining claims against the individual defendants will be handled in federal court.