Andy Rubin says Google sexual misconduct claims are ‘smear campaign’

Andy Rubin, creator of Android
Brian Ach/Getty

• Android creator Andy Rubin has said
  The New York Times report about his alleged sexual
  misconduct at Google is part of a “smear campaign.”
• The Times reported that Rubin coerced a woman, with
  whom he was having an extramarital affair, into giving him oral
  sex in a hotel room in 2014.
• The newspaper said Rubin was handed an exit package of
  $90 million after he was asked to hand in his
  resignation.
• Rubin said the report contained “numerous inaccuracies”
  and was designed to “disparage” him during a divorce and
  custody battle.

Andy Rubin, the man who created Android for Google, has rubbished
a New York Times report about
his alleged sexual misconduct at the company and his $90 million
exit deal.

The Times said Rubin was asked to resign from Google in 2014
after an internal investigation found that he had had an
extramarital affair with an employee, and coerced her into
performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013.

The Times also reported that Rubin was given a “hero’s farewell”
and an exit package worth $90 million, which was paid in
instalments of about $2 million over four years.

Rubin strongly denied the claims in two tweets on Thursday evening. He
said they were a smear campaign designed to damage his name as
part of a divorce and custody battle with his ex-wife Rie Rubin.

“The New York Times story contains numerous inaccuracies about my
employment at Google and wild exaggerations about my
compensation. Specifically, I never coerced a woman to have sex
in a hotel room,” he wrote.

“These false allegations are part of a smear campaign to
disparage me during a divorce and custody battle. Also, I am
deeply troubled that anonymous Google executives are commenting
about my personnel file and misrepresenting the facts.”

Rubin and his ex-wife were divorced in August, according to the
Times. In a civil suit this month, she claimed that he had
multiple “ownership relationships” with other women during their
marriage, in which he paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars,
the Times reports.

In response to a request for comment, Google sent Business
Insider the memo written by CEO Sundar Pichai
on Thursday. He said the company has fired 48 people for
sexual harassment in the past two years, and that none of them
received an exit package.

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