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Sam Altman Seeks Dismissal of Punitive Damages from Sister's Childhood Sexual Abuse Suit
By Reuters | 16 Apr, 2026

The claims against the OpenAI CEO based on alleged childhood sexual abuse is airing family dirty laundry that contrasts jarringly with the tech pioneer's lofty public image.

FILE PHOTO: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Sam Altman is seeking the dismissal of punitive damages claims in his sister's civil lawsuit accusing the OpenAI co-founder and chief executive of repeated sexual abuse more than two decades ago, an accusation he denies.

In a Wednesday night filing in St. Louis federal court, Sam Altman said Missouri's child sexual abuse statute does not authorize punitive damages for Annie Altman's claims, and instead limits her to "damages for injury or illness" caused by childhood sexual abuse.

Sam Altman said punitive damages are also unavailable for conduct he allegedly committed as a child. He renewed his request to dismiss Annie Altman's lawsuit altogether.

Lawyers for Annie Altman did not immediately respond to requests for comment after business hours.

Annie Altman accused her brother of sexually abusing and raping her between 1997 and 2006 at the family home in suburban Clayton, Missouri, starting when she was three and he was 12. She said the "last acts of sexual abuse and rape" occurred when Sam Altman was an adult. He is now 40.

The Altman family has said Annie Altman has mental health challenges and received financial support. Sam Altman said she began accusing him on social media of sexual abuse after they rejected her extortionate demand for "greater and greater financial support."

Her lawsuit began in January 2025.

Sam Altman is countersuing his sister for defamation over her posts, including a video that said "an almost tech billionaire" molested her.

He is seeking $1, saying he "does not want to harm his sister financially" but wants a verdict that her statements are not true.

Sam Altman became a face of the artificial intelligence boom after the chatbot ChatGPT was released in 2022.

He also faces a scheduled April 27 trial in fellow billionaire Elon Musk's more than $134 billion lawsuit accusing OpenAI of departing from its mission to develop AI to benefit humanity, and defrauding him into donating. OpenAI partner Microsoft is also a defendant.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)