Sam Altman has asked a federal court in St. Louis to remove punitive damages from the claims in a civil lawsuit filed by his sister, Annie Altman, who alleges he sexually abused and raped her over a period spanning from 1997 to 2006. The OpenAI co-founder and chief executive denies the accusations.
In a filing submitted Wednesday night, Altman argued that Missouri’s statute addressing child sexual abuse does not permit punitive damages in cases like his sister’s. Instead, he said the law confines a plaintiff to "damages for injury or illness" suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse. Altman also stated that punitive damages cannot be awarded for conduct he allegedly committed when he was a child.
The filing also reiterated Altman’s earlier request to dismiss Annie Altman’s lawsuit in its entirety.
Attorneys for Annie Altman did not immediately respond to requests for comment made after business hours.
Allegations and timeline
According to the complaint, Annie Altman accuses her brother of repeated sexual abuse and rape that began in the family home in suburban Clayton, Missouri, when she was three years old and Sam Altman was 12. The alleged episodes are said to have continued through 2006, with the complaint stating the "last acts of sexual abuse and rape" occurred when Sam Altman was an adult. Sam Altman is now 40.
The Altman family has publicly stated that Annie Altman faces mental health challenges and has received financial support. Sam Altman has said that the accusations began after the family declined what he described as an extortionate demand for "greater and greater financial support," and that she started posting allegations on social media following that dispute.
Annie Altman filed her lawsuit in January 2025. In response, Sam Altman has filed a countersuit for defamation tied to her online posts, including a video in which she referred to "an almost tech billionaire" having molested her. In his counterclaim he seeks $1 in damages, saying he does not wish to financially harm his sister but wants a judicial finding that her statements are not true.
Broader legal context facing Altman and OpenAI
Sam Altman emerged as a prominent figure in the artificial intelligence sector after the release of the ChatGPT chatbot in 2022. Separately from the family litigation, Altman is also scheduled to appear at an April 27 trial tied to a lawsuit brought by fellow billionaire Elon Musk. That suit, seeking more than $134 billion, alleges OpenAI departed from its mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity and defrauded Musk into donating; OpenAI partner Microsoft is also named as a defendant in that litigation.
The current filing in St. Louis focuses narrowly on statutory interpretation under Missouri law and the availability of punitive damages in the context of alleged childhood sexual abuse. Altman’s renewed motion to dismiss and the parallel defamation counterclaim keep both civil disputes active on the court docket.