Former employee claims years of misconduct, retaliation, and broken promises by Swiss billionaire and Paso Robles winery owner
PASO ROBLES — A civil lawsuit has been filed in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court against Swiss billionaire businessman Hansjörg Wyss, alleging sexual harassment, sexual battery, and retaliation by a former employee, Madison Busby. Wyss is also the owner of Halter Ranch Winery, located in the Adelaida area of Paso Robles.
According to the complaint, Busby endured years of alleged misconduct while employed at Halter Ranch Winery. The suit details alleged repeated lewd comments and propositions for sex by the 89-year-old, as well as retaliatory actions taken after Busby attempted to distance herself.
At the time, Wyss also employed Busby’s husband and allegedly promised him a co-ownership stake in the winery. When Busby rejected Wyss’s advances, the lawsuit claims Wyss withdrew the ownership offer and retaliated against her professionally.
Wyss is known for founding medical device company Synthes and for his extensive donations to environmental and progressive causes in the United States. As of 2025, his net worth is estimated between $4.8 billion (Forbes) and $12.7 billion (Bloomberg). His Wyss Foundation holds nearly $2 billion in assets. Wyss is a major donor to the Democratic Party and has faced scrutiny due to restrictions on political contributions by foreign nationals. In 2024, he donated $100 million to the City of Berne, which granted him honorary citizenship. He is also a co-owner of Chelsea Football Club, a shareholder in the Lalique Group, and co-owner of Scotland’s Glenturret Distillery.
After purchasing the then 900-acre Halter Ranch and Vineyard in 2000, Wyss added to the property a 1,800-acre wildlife reserve. The winery has since expanded to include a tasting room in Temecula and Fredericksburg, Texas.
According to the lawsuit, Busby (30), graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in architectural engineering and then worked for Halter Ranch from approximately January 2021 to July 2024 as a project manager.
In 2019, Busby met and began dating Halter Ranch General Manager Bryce Mullins. In the lawsuit, Busby describes her first meeting with Wyss in September 2019.
The lawsuit states, “While Ms. Busby cooked on the stove, Mr. Wyss, then in his mid-80s and married, deliberately placed his hand on Ms. Busby’s butt and groped her. Mr. Wyss proceeded to tell Mr. Mullins in Ms. Busby’s presence about how ‘good’ Ms. Busby’s butt looked in the dress she was wearing. A few nights later, Mr. Wyss suggested to Ms. Busby that she wear the same dress again because it looked ‘sexy’ on her. Mr. Wyss continued to make comments to Mr. Mullins and Ms. Busby that she looked ‘sexy’ and asked Mr. Mullins whether he had any ‘sexy’ photos of Ms. Busby on his phone that he could later share with him.”
Busby claims she did not retaliate or complain at the time about the incident due to fear that it would jeopardize Mullins’ position at the company. In April 2020, Busby then moved in with Mullins in a home located on the ranch. Busby says that inappropriate comments continued throughout the years from Wyss.
“In the Summer of 2020, Mr. Wyss and his wife wanted to renovate the Ridge House, a large property near the estate that Mr. Wyss purchased. To supervise the renovation, Mr. Mullins and Ms. Busby lived at Ridge House. Ms. Busby later began working on the renovation and other design projects for Halter Ranch,” the lawsuit describes. Busby then worked for Halter Ranch at full capacity in 2021.
Busby claims in the lawsuit that Wyss began to proposition Busby and Mullins to have a threesome with him or just Busby alone have sex with Wyss. These propositions, Busby says, continued throughout the months and years which included trips to Wyoming, where Wyss mostly resides, and to Switzerland.
“Throughout 2021 and 2022, Mr. Wyss frequently shared unwelcome stories about his sexual exploits and various affairs with other women,” the lawsuit continues. “In 2021, Mr. Wyss told Ms. Busby and Mr. Mullins about his many sexual affairs outside of his marriage and stated there was nothing wrong with affairs. He further said that Americans were ‘too uptight’ around those having affairs.”
Other allegations include a woman named “Lori” and Wyss’s many sexual adventures with her.
“He went on to tell Ms. Busby that he usually had phone sex at Halter Ranch with Lori because his wife was not around,” the lawsuit said. “Mr. Wyss mentioned to Ms. Busby that he wanted them to ‘Facetime’ Lori with him.”
Paso Robles Press reached out to Halter Ranch for comment. They provided the following statement, saying the allegations against Wyss are not true.
“For almost five years, starting in 2019, Mr. Mullins and his current wife voluntarily made themselves part of the Halter Winery community and took advantage of its owner’s generosity,” the spokesperson said. “This included deciding to become employees of the winery, choosing to live at the winery rent-free for years, frequently traveling with the owner to Europe, the Caribbean and elsewhere at the owner’s expense, asking the owner and his wife to host their wedding party and inviting the owner to serve as Best Man. Through all these years, they never complained about the owner’s conduct, or simply declined to spend so much time with him, until after they voluntarily left their employment at the winery in 2024.”
According to the lawsuit, Wyss knew his actions could be legally problematic for him, telling Busby at one point in 2022, “If you ever went after me for sexual harassment, you would win.”
Busby says she continued to ignore any comments or advances from Wyss due to concerns about her and her now husband’s employment under Wyss. However, later in 2022, when Busby was expecting her first child, she and Mullins made plans to move from the larger “Ridge House” into the smaller “Dubost House” on the property.
The lawsuit says that when Busby and Mullins informed Wyss of this plan, he insisted they remain at the larger home but, “Ms. Busby and Mr. Mullins held firm to the move as they were about to have a baby and could no longer tolerate Mr. Wyss’s behavior.”
The lawsuit alleges that Wyss then retaliated against the couple by forcing them take a pay cut and insisted they begin paying rent. Busby says she then resigned from her position, sending Wyss a letter outlining her concerns about his “ongoing conduct and her own anxiety and distress as the result of that conduct.”
The complaint filed in April at the San Luis Obispo County Courthouse accuses Wyss of sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual battery.
According to reports, Mullins has also filed a seperate lawsuit against the Swiss billionaire who says his employment was “abrubtly terminated” following Busby’s complaint despite bringing him out from the East Coast to work at the ranch and once promising Mullins would “have full control of the Halter Companies upon Mr. Wyss’s death.”
This is a developing story that the Paso Robles Press will continue to follow, with updates provided as new information becomes available.
Feature Image courtesy of The Wyss Foundation
