David Koch’s widow has been accused of using code words to hide purchases and vacations from her ailing husband, in a complaint filed by the couple’s former bodyguard.
Felicia Racine, 29, says in her complaint that Julia Koch, 58, also locked the billionaire in a room during a dinner party and had an affair before he died in August last year at the age of 79. She is also said to have refused a feeding tube for her husband.
U.S. Air Force veteran Racine, who worked for the couple between January 2018 and April 2020, filed a 17-page complaint last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The New York Daily News reports.
In it she accused Julia of gender-based discrimination and a ‘hostile work environment’ after she was made to carry out ‘remedial’ tasks not asked of male bodyguards.
A spokesman for Julie Koch told DailyMail.com the claims ‘are nothing more than a gratuitous attempt to smear Julia and David Kochs’ reputation’.
They added: ‘We will not dignify these baseless stories with specific responses. Julia is a devoted wife and mother.’
David Koch’s widow Julia has been accused of using code words to hide purchases and vacations from her ailing husband, in a complaint filed by the couple’s former bodyguard. The couple are pictured in 2016, left. Felicia Racine, 29, right, says in her complaint that Julia Koch, 58, also locked the billionaire in a room during a dinner party and had an affair before he died in August last year at the age of 79
Racine is also said to have been told Julia had a boyfriend called Charles Manger when she started work for the Kochs. The complaint states: ‘Manger typically visited with Julia at several Koch residences, while David Sr. was still alive, including the Southampton residence.
‘Felicia provided some security for both Julia and Manger together as a couple.’
And in one incident Republican donor Koch is said to have been escorted back to his room by nurses during a dinner party in 2019. He had joined the group, telling those present her ‘loved’ Julia and hugging her.
Julia is said to have told staff: ‘Escort him back to this room now, you have to lock the door, lock him there so he doesn’t interrupt the dinner party again.’
Nurses are said to have told Racine: ‘(Julia) won’t allow him to have a feeding tube, it’s not right, he’s gonna die, we are uncomfortable with it because he is no longer eating and is basically starving to death.’
The filing adds: ‘Felicia believed that Julia had refused David Sr.’s feeding tube because Julia could not deal with David Sr. anymore and did not want his life prolonged further.’
In a full statement a spokesman for Julia said: ‘Felicia Racine has achieved her goal of bringing an employment claim against her employer Matador Security Company, Inc. to the press in hopes of extorting funds from Matador’s client, Julia Koch.
‘While we have yet to see Ms. Racine’s employment discrimination complaint, these stories about the Kochs’ personal lives, which have nothing to do about the legitimacy of any personal employment claims, are nothing more than a gratuitous attempt to smear Julia and David Kochs’ reputation.
‘We will not dignify these baseless stories with specific responses. Julia is a devoted wife and mother. Together with her late husband, they dedicated their lives’ work to philanthropic causes—giving over $1 billion to the arts and medical science.
‘It is disappointing to see these mean-spirited accusations about the Koch’s personal lives from someone that Julia trusted with the security and well-being of her children. It is even more disappointing to know that money is the ultimate motivation.’
Julia Koch, 58, is also accused of locking the billionaire in a room during a dinner party and was having an affair before his death aged 79 in August last year. She is also said to have refused a feeding tube for her husband. The couple are pictured in 2015
Koch, who was worth $50.5 billion before his death, is also said to have not been told about a $40 million Manhattan townhouse purchased by Julia.
The complaint claims Julia told Racine: ‘Refer to the house as Hamilton, do not talk about this front of David Sr.’
Racine says she was also told to refer to a family vacation as Project X as Julia ‘did not want David Sr. going on the trip.’
Julia also had a replica Amedeo Modigliani painting made so that David would not know she had moved the original, the filing claims.