Harrovian in Silicon Valley is suspended after ‘ordering an intern to have sex with donors’ 

An Harrovian who works as an anti-ageing scientist in Silicon Valley has been suspended by his firm after he allegedly ordered an intern to have sex with prospective donors.

Aubrey de Grey, 58, who is the chief gerontologist at the SENS Research Foundation, was also accused of sexual harassment by a second woman on Tuesday.

Celine Halioua, 26, posted online about her encounter with the 58-year-old Cambridge graduate while working as an intern at SENS in 2016.

She claims she attended a dinner at which Mr de Grey told her that she was expected to have sex with other guests to solicit funds for the company.

‘Aubrey funneled me alcohol and hit on me the entire night. He told me that I was a “glorious woman” and that as a glorious woman I had a responsibility to have sex with the SENS donors in attendance so they would give money to him,’ Ms Halioua wrote.

Aubrey de Grey, who is a director at the SENS Research Foundation in Silicon Valley, was accused of sexual harassment by two women

Mr de Grey was on Tuesday accused of sexual harassment by Celine Halioua, 26, (left) and 27-year-old Laura Deming

‘I left that dinner sobbing. It has taken me years to shake the deep-seated belief that I only got to where I am due to older men wanting to have sex with me,’ she added.

Mr de Grey received an elite British education first attending the £42,000-per-year Harrow School, followed by Cambridge.

He has since become the foremost advocate of medical tech to stop the ageing process – a fascination of extraordinary wealthy tech businessman in California.

The pioneering gerontologist often appears on podcasts and gives interviews to the press about his work in the field.  

Ms Halioua wrote the post on the same day as 27-year-old Laura Deming published a blog about her own ‘bad experience’ with Mr de Grey when she was 17.

Ms Deming claims that the London-born scientist wrote to her about his ‘adventurous love life.’

‘I didn’t expect a trusted mentor I’d known since childhood to hit on me so blatantly, and insinuate that it had been on his mind for a while,’ she wrote.

Mr de Grey was immediately placed on administrative leave by SENS pending an investigation into the claims.

He responded on his Facebook page on Wednesday, writing: ‘Unsurprisingly, I deny these allegations.

‘What may be more surprising to you is this: my belief is that both Laura and Celine have been deceived into the view that I have done many things that I have in fact not done. Nonetheless, since they have chosen to go public, I am left with no choice but to do the same.’