Judge tosses sexual abuse lawsuit from Sam Altman's sister
The case was dismissed over a refused medical exam, not on the merits.
A federal judge dismissed Ann Altman's lawsuit against her brother, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, on Tuesday. US District Judge Zachary Bluestone didn't rule on the merits of her claims. Instead, he wrote that Ann refused to appear for an independent medical examination, despite being warned that skipping it would lead to the case's dismissal.
Ann Altman filed the lawsuit in January 2025, accusing Sam of sexually abusing her when she was a child. She alleged that the abuse took place at the family's Missouri home between 1997 and 2006, beginning when she was three and he was 12. She said the last instance of alleged abuse took place when her brother was an adult.
The case had already been revised once. In March, Bluestone ruled that Ann's original sexual assault and battery claims had expired years earlier. But the judge allowed her to refile under a Missouri childhood sexual abuse law. She then filed the amended suit that was dismissed on Tuesday.
The OpenAI CEO, now 41, has denied the claims. Bluestone also reportedly approved Sam Altman's request on Tuesday to withdraw a defamation counterclaim he made against his sister.
In a joint statement made after Ann Altman's initial lawsuit was filed, Sam Altman, his mother and two younger brothers called the allegations "entirely untrue." They claimed that Ann Altman had "mental health challenges" and "refuses conventional treatment and lashes out at family members who are genuinely trying to help."
Ann Altman's former lawyer, Santos Perez, who withdrew from the case in October, wrote in a statement, "I am no longer authorized to comment on this case but I continue to believe in Annie."