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'Father of Android' Andy Rubin hits back at reports he received £70m pay-off after sexual misconduct claims


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A former Google senior executive, who reportedly received a £70m pay-off after he was accused of sexual harassment by an employee, has hit back at the allegations, saying they are part of a "smear campaign".

 

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Andy Rubin, who invented the Android smartphone software, received four years of payments after leaving the internet giant in 2014. 

 

He allegedly coerced an employee into performing a sex act on him in a hotel room in 2013, The New York Times reported. When a sexual misconduct claim was made against Rubin, Google asked him to resign.

 

The company is reported to have paid him millions of dollars each month, totalling $90m (£70m) over four years, when he left. It did not reveal the allegation, instead praising him for his work.

 

Mr Rubin, who joined Google in 2005, tweeted that The New York Times report contained "numerous inaccuracies about my employment at Google and wild exaggeration about my compensation".

 

 

"Specifically, I never coerced a woman to have sex in a hotel room. These false allegations are part of a smear campaign to disparage me during a divorce and custody battle," he said.

 

"Also, I am deeply troubled that anonymous Google executives are commenting about my personnel file and misrepresenting the facts."

 

 

Mr Rubin began dating his accuser while married to his former wife in 2012. In March the following year his accuser tried to break off the relationship, according to The New York Times.

 

They agreed to meet in a hotel, where Mr Rubin is alleged to have pressured her into performing a sex act, and the relationship ended that evening. A year later, the accuser filed a complaint to Google’s human resources department and told officials about the relationship.

 

Google opened an investigation, during which time the company's board of directors awarded Mr Rubin $150m in shares. It is unclear whether the board were aware of the allegations at this time.

 

The New York Times also reported that Google's security staff had found bondage videos on Mr Rubin's computer, and his ex-wife had claimed he had multiple "ownership relationships" with women while they were married. 

 

According to the paper, Google upheld the accuser’s complaint and its chief executive Larry Page told Mr Rubin he should leave in 2014. They reported that he was given an exit package worth $2.5m a month for the first two years and $1.25m a month for the following two, in return for his silence and a promise not to work for rivals. The last of these payments is due next month. 

 

Divorce papers filed by Mr Rubin’s ex wife Rie Rubin, who he met at Google, reveal that the 55-year-old's net worth has ballooned since leaving Google. He is now worth about $350m. 

 

 

The sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Rubin were reported earlier this year but this is the first time the nature of the accusation and the financial terms have been laid out.

 

It is not the first time Google has been reported to have paid out to staff accused of sexual misconduct. Dr Richard De Vaul, whose official title is “director of mad science” on Google’s secretive research division, X  was accused of using job interviews to screen girlfriends for his poly amorous relationship with his wife. He remains at X.

 

Mr DeVaul issued a statement apologising for his “error of judgment".

 

Former head of search Amit Singhal was accused of groping a worker in 2015. He was paid off and went to work at Uber, who dismissed him when the allegations were reported in the press.

Mr Singhal denied being involved in any harassment.

 

A spokesman for Mr Rubin told The New York Times that any relationship he had at Google had been consensual and that he had left the company of his own accord. Google said it took a "hard line on inappropriate conduct by people in positions of authority".

 

Google's chief executive sent an email to employees regarding The New York Times article in which he admitted it was "difficult to read". He said that 48 people had been terminated for sexual harassment including 13 who were senior managers and that none of them received an exit package. 

 

 

"We’ve also updated our policy to require all Vice Presidents and Senior Vice Presidents to disclose any relationship with a co-worker regardless of reporting line or presence of conflict," he added.

 

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