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Google Board Sued by Shareholder for Allegedly Covering Up Sexual Harassment by Android Creator Andy Rubin

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Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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January 10, 2019, 6:03 PM ET

Alphabet’s board of directors was sued by a shareholder for “quietly” approving a $90 million exit payment to the father of Android, Andy Rubin, and protecting other executives accused of sexual harassment.

The investor claims the Google parent’s board failed in its duties by allowing the harassment to occur and covering up Rubin’s behavior, as did the company’s top executives and committee members, including co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, venture capitalist John Doerr, investor Ram Shriram, and Alphabet Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, among others.

“Rubin was allowed to quietly resign by defendants Larry Page and Sergey Brin after an internal investigation found the allegations of sexual harassment by Rubin to be credible,” according to the complaint filed Thursday in California state court. “While at Google, Rubin is also alleged to have engaged in human sex trafficking—paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to women to be, in Rubin’s own words, ‘owned’ by him.”

Fortune reached out to Google for comment. The story will be updated once the company responds.

Rubin created Android, now the world’s most popular operating system, and ran the powerful mobile division at Google for years before leaving the company in 2014. In October, The New York Times reported that Google executives approved a four-year, $90 million pay package for Rubin after an employee accused the executive of sexual harassment.

 

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