Lawsuit: Google Parent Alphabet Lost 'Billions' by Covering Up Sexual Abuse

Google parent company Alphabet reportedly lost “billions” of dollars after “covering up sexual abuse” at the company, and now a shareholder is suing because of it.

According to Mercury News, which cited a recent lawsuit from shareholder James Martin, “Alphabet’s board of directors cost the firm billions of dollars by covering up sexual abuse by senior executives and paying them millions as they were quietly ousted.”

Martin is reportedly suing Alphabet’s board of directors over the loss, which came from the company’s stock plummeting during the “fallout” of the scandal.

“A worldwide walkout in November by thousands of Google employees, in response to revelations in the New York Times about Rubin’s alleged golden parachute, cost Google hundreds of millions of dollars beyond the executives’ payouts,” Mercury News reported. “And fallout from the purported scandal led to billions of dollars in losses to Alphabet’s value in the stock market, lawyer Frank Bottini said at a press conference in San Francisco.”

Google executive Andy Rubin was reportedly given a “hero’s farewell” and a $90 million departure package following allegations of sexual abuse and harassment, which prompted thousands of Google employees to stage mass walkout protests at company offices around the world.

“What Google did not make public was that an employee had accused Mr. Rubin of sexual misconduct. The woman, with whom Mr. Rubin had been having an extramarital relationship, said he coerced her into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013,” reported the New York Times in October. “Google investigated and concluded her claim was credible, said the people, who spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing confidentiality agreements. Mr. Rubin was notified, they said, and Mr. Page asked for his resignation.”

“Google could have fired Mr. Rubin and paid him little to nothing on the way out. Instead, the company handed him a $90 million exit package, paid in installments of about $2 million a month for four years,” the Times continued, adding that Rubin was just “one of three executives that Google protected over the past decade after they were accused of sexual misconduct.”