LOS ANGELES _ Los Angeles Opera has hired Debra Wong Yang from the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to conduct a "thorough and independent investigation" into sexual harassment allegations against Placido Domingo, the company's general director. The investigation will begin immediately, the company said Tuesday.
Yang is a former U.S. attorney and Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. She is the chair of her company's Crisis Management Practice Group and has investigated other headline-grabbing cases.
In 2017, the University of Southern California turned to Yang to investigate the conduct of Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, the former medical school dean who used drugs and partied with younger addicts, prostitutes and others in 2015.
The investigation comes after eight singers and one dancer told the Associated Press that they were sexually harassed by Domingo in the 1980s, '90s and early 2000s. The women said Domingo made unwanted sexual advances and tried to pressure them into sexual relationships. When they refused those advances, many said, they stopped getting hired for Domingo productions.
