Google exec Andy Rubin faces detailed sexual misconduct allegations: NYT

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• On Thursday, The New York Times published more details about the allegation that led to Android founder Andy Rubin’s dismissal from Google in 2014. 
• The Times reported that Rubin was found to have pressured a woman with whom he had an extramarital relationship into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013.
• The Times also cited an incident when Google’s security staff found bondage sex videos on Rubin’s work computer and screenshots of messaged that alluded to the Android founder paying for “ownership relationships” with women.
• Rubin’s spokesperson told The Times that the Android founder did not partake in misconduct and that “any relationship that Mr. Rubin had while at Google was consensual and did not involve any person who reported directly to him.”

On Thursday, new details about Android founder Andy Rubin’s 2014 exit from Google came to light in a bombshell report by The New York Times. The report alleges the internet company paid him $90 million despite concluding that there was credibility to a sexual misconduct claim against him.

According to The Times, Rubin was ultimately asked to leave Google after pressuring a woman (with whom he had an extramarital relationship) into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013. The two’s relationship was cooling around the time of the incident, but the woman had been worried to cut things off in fear that doing so would affect her career, according to two company executives briefed on the relationship. 

Rubin was involved in other sexual incidents during his time at Google as well, according to the report.

The report claims: 

• Rubin dated other women at Google while he was married — according to four people who worked with him — including one woman on the Android team. 
• Google’s security staff found bondage sex videos on Rubin’s work computer, according to three anonymous executives familiar with the incident. For that case, Rubin’s yearly bonus was dinged.
• Rubin’s ex-wife said he had multiple “ownership relationships” with other women during their marriage, paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Screenshots released in the couple’s civil suit revealed Rubin telling one woman: “You will be happy being taken care of. Being owned is kinda like you are my property, and I can loan you to other people.”

Rubin’s spokesperson told The Times that the Android founder did not partake in misconduct and that “any relationship that Mr. Rubin had while at Google was consensual and did not involve any person who reported directly to him.”

Upon Rubin’s departure from Google in 2014, he was celebrated by Google’s chief executive at the time, Larry Page.

“I want to wish Andy all the best with what’s next,” Page said in a statement. “With Android he created something truly remarkable — with a billion-plus happy users.”

In an email to employees on Thursday, CEO Sundar Pichai said the following: 

“In recent years, we’ve made a number of changes, including taking an increasingly hard line on inappropriate conduct by people in positions of authority: in the last two years, 48 people have been terminated for sexual harassment, including 13 who were senior managers and above. None of these individuals received an exit package.”

 

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