CPM Fights for Rights of Estranged Wife of Android Creator Andy Rubin; Court Documents Show How Google Paid Off After He Was Accused of Sexual Misconduct
Andy Rubin, a former Google senior vice president who invented the Android operating system, departed the company for having an “inappropriate relationship” with a subordinate and kept payments by his former employer secret from his wife for several years, according to documents made public by a California superior court.
On Tuesday, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Susan Greenberg unsealed a civil complaint brought by Rubin’s estranged wife, Rie Hirabaru Rubin, revealing allegations about how Google and its parent company Alphabet compensated the high-powered former executive in secret after he left the company following a sexual misconduct allegation. News of the former executive’s $90 million exit package sparked internal anger at Alphabet and widespread condemnation, leading to employee demonstrations, shareholder lawsuits, and revisions to policies on how the company handles sexual misconduct complaints.
The lawsuit, which was filed last October but temporarily sealed by the court, alleges that Andy Rubin and his former lawyer conspired to defraud Rie Rubin by convincing her to sign a prenuptial agreement that later barred her from sharing any part of her husband’s financial gains. Rie Rubin, who is also seeking a divorce in a separate family court, is suing to invalidate that prenuptial agreement and to potentially lay claim to a portion of Andy Rubin’s net worth, which court documents estimate to be around $350 million.
While the lawsuit never explicitly states that Google paid $90 million as part of an exit package following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct in 2014, it does allege that “Rubin concealed his income” and that his wife “even now does not understand the full scope of his finances.” Rie Rubin also alleged that her husband opened a separate bank account a few months before he left Google in Oct. 2014 to receive his earnings and make “hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to other women.”
In her ruling on Tuesday, Judge Greenberg unsealed the document, allowing the case to proceed, but asked that the plaintiff submit an amended complaint that removes many of the salacious allegations around Andy Rubin’s alleged payments to other women for relationships.
“We’re encouraged because the court’s tentative order permits the case to go forward,” said Brian Danitz, a lawyer for Rie Rubin. “Still, we’re disappointed the allegations regarding Andy Rubin’s relationships in exchange for payment has been stricken from the complaint.”
Ellen Stross, one of Andy Rubin’s attorneys, called the suit a “garden variety family law dispute involving a wife who regrets her decision to execute a prenuptial agreement.” She added that the case should be litigated entirely in family law court, where there is a concurrent divorce case. A spokesperson for Google did not immediately return a request for comment.
The original complaint delves into the former Google exec’s alleged “affairs with multiple women.” Some of those affairs, the suit alleges, included “‘ownership’ relationships with other women, whereby Rubin would pay for their expenses in exchange for offering them to other men.” The complaint includes two messages from Andy Rubin’s email account, which his wife claims to have viewed, detailing those relationships... (To read the entire article, please click HERE)