AI summary
In 2021, Jon Pretty, a prominent Scala community leader and conference organizer, faced sexual harassment allegations from two ex-partners: Yifan Xing and Victoria Leontieva (killnicole). They accused him of non-consensual acts, manipulation, and exploiting his position during conferences, detailed in blog posts. An open letter signed by over 300 community members demanded boycotts of his events and software, leading to his “cancellation,” job loss, and project shutdowns. Jon Pretty denied the claims, asserting consensual relationships that ended poorly. Community reactions split: supporters praised public callouts due to legal barriers for victims; critics decried mob justice and lack of due process. Notably, accuser Victoria Leontieva was then-girlfriend 1 of Travis Brown (known for Scala cancel culture tactics), and Yifan Xing is his current girlfriend 1 .
In 2024, Jon Pretty sued four UK-based open letter signatories for libel. They settled out of court, admitting no evidence for allegations, paying £5,000 damages plus costs, and apologizing for harm caused.
In 2025, Jon Pretty detailed the fallout: severe financial losses, emotional trauma, and lasting career damage, criticizing the community’s dereliction of due process. Discussions highlighted broader risks of false accusations and community toxicity.
Timeline
From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40174262 (repost on reddit):
One of the two accusers of Jon Pretty happened to be Victoria Leontieva (AKA killnicole), Travis’s girlfriend at the time.
And the other accuser, Yifan Xing, is Travis’s new girlfriend now.
From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40172844:
Coincidentally, [Travis Brown] is also the new boyfriend of Yifan Xing (the accuser) and a sworn enemy of Jon Pretty.
…
Yifan is Brown’s new girlfriend? Pieces of the puzzle are now falling neatly into place. There were two blogposts written about Jon Pretty, insinuating bad behaviour on his part towards woman.
One by Yifan. One by Victoria Leontieva (AKA killnicole).
Victoria was Travis’s girlfriend too.
So, both Victoria and Yifan dated Travis. That’s way too coincidental to be coincidence, especially when Travis was known for systematically cancelling people based on his perception of their political opinions (e.g. https://github.com/travisbrown/cancel-culture, https://github.com/travisbrown/twitter-watch)