Android creator Andy Rubin, who was paid $90 million by Google as a severance package after being accused of sexual harassment, concealed the payments from his estranged wife for years, a lawsuit alleges, as per media reports.
In a civil complaint filed in San Mateo, California, Rubin’s estranged wife Rie Hirabaru Rubin alleged that he and a former attorney conspired to convince her to sign a premarital agreement a few days before they were married, that “later barred her from sharing any part of her husband’s financial gains”.
The lawsuit, first reported by BuzzFeed on Tuesday, alleged Andy “concealed his income” from his wife and kept her “in the dark as to his sources of income, the amount of money the family had, and what it was being spent on”.
The lawsuit also accused Andy of running “what appeared to be a sex ring”, alleging that he had affairs with at least five other women.
Andy’s wife also alleged that he opened a separate bank account a few months before he left Google in October 2014 to receive his earnings and make “hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to other women”.
Andy’s attorney said in a statement that “this is a family law dispute involving a wife who regrets her decision to execute a prenuptial agreement”, reports The Verge.
“It is full of false claims, and we look forward to telling our side of the story,” the attorney added.
Google reportedly paid $105 million to Andy and another former executive of Indian-origin Amit Singhal as exit package after they were accused of sexual harassment in 2014.
According to media reports, Google initially agreed to pay $135 million to Andy and Amit.
The total amount was later brought down to $105 million ($90 million for Andy and $15 million for Amit).
Singhal later joined the rival company Uber. He stepped down as Uber’s Senior Vice President of Engineering in 2017 after the sexual harassment details reached the ride-hailing giant.
Singhal was Senior Vice President at Google Search while Rubin was head of Android at Google.
The news of the payouts, reported by the New York Times last October, led to widespread protests on Google’s campus.
Singhal “was allowed to quietly resign at Google in 2016 in the wake of credible allegations of sexual harassment, and was paid millions in severance”.
According to CEO Sundar Pichai, Google has so far terminated 48 people for sexual harassment.