A retired Amazon Vice President claims the CEO of a startup where he once worked seduced his wife and led to his divorce. Seattle-based Ethan Evans offered advice on how to deal with “unethical leaders” and “political snake pits” in a post where he made the sensational claim.
“A CEO that I worked for seduced my wife in direct retaliation for my pushback on him at work. He won. I got divorced and left the company,” Evans wrote in his LinkedIn post. “When I say I truly understand how some executive teams can be political snake pits, I trust you will believe me. Learn from my pain,” he added.
Ethan Evans spent over 15 years working at Amazon, joining the e-commerce giant as a senior manager and climbing the corporate ladder until he was appointed vice president of Prime Gaming in 2019. He retired from Amazon in September 2020 and launched his own newsletter for career growth solutions.
“CEO seduced my wife”
Evans opened up about his sensational claim in a lengthier post written for his Level Up newsletter.
“The CEO of a startup I worked for seduced my wife in direct retaliation for my pushback in the office, directly leading to my divorce,” he said. “When people ask how I survived the snake den of manipulative, political leaders to become a Vice President at Amazon, I assure them that I have real experience with unethical leaders.”
Evans called his seduction and divorce story the “worst example” of manipulative and unethical leaders he has encountered in his decades-long career.
He acknowledged that his marriage had problems to begin with, writing in a LinkedIn comment: “As a PS, I want to acknowledge that what this CEO did would not have worked if my then wife had not been open to his proposition. This in turn reflects that our marriage had problem.”
“While she was not looking for a liaison at the start, in the end she made her own independent adult choices,” he added.
Internet sleuths at work
Although Evans did not name the CEO, his long stint with Amazon led some social media users to conclude that he was referring to Jeff Bezos.
However, it is clear that Jeff Bezos is not the chief executive being referred to in this anecdote. For one thing, Evans clearly states that the CEO in question helmed a startup, which Amazon is certainly not. For another, he hints that he survived the manipulative leader and quit the company to become a VP at Amazon, where he worked till he retired.
Most importantly, he gave a timeline for the time when the seduction and divorce occurred. In a LinkedIn comment, Evans said his ex-wife was seduced by the CEO 19 years ago. During this time, according to his LinkedIn profile, he worked as the VP of Engineering at Lightningcast.
Internet sleuths used this clue to figure out the name of the CEO in question:
Evans also explained his rationale for sharing the story – “My mission is to help others avoid some of my mistakes,” he wrote.