Female Yahoo executive sued, accused of sexually harassing female employee

A senior female Yahoo executive has been sued in California by a woman who worked under her and is accusing her former boss of sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

Maria Zhang, a senior director of engineering at Yahoo Mobile, has been sued by Nan Shi, who worked as a principal software engineer in Yahoo from February last year, according to a complaint filed in a California court last Tuesday.

The complaint alleges that Zhang coerced Shi to have oral and digital sex with her on multiple occasions in Sunnyvale, California, and told Shi she would have a "bright future" at Yahoo if she had sex with her.

Shi is seeking monetary as well as punitive damages. The lawsuit also names Yahoo as a defendant.

"There is absolutely no basis or truth to the allegations against Maria Zhang. Maria is an exemplary Yahoo executive and we intend to fight vigorously to clear her name," a Yahoo representative said.

Zhang founded her own mobile company, Alike, which was acquired by Yahoo last year. She also worked at Microsoft and Zillow before joining Yahoo, according to her LinkedIn profile.