Google paid USD 135M to executives accused of sexual harassment - Law suit
Tuesday March 12 2019
Google agreed to pay two of its top executives $135million in severance packages after they were both accused of sexual misconduct, a new lawsuit has claimed.
Amit Singhal was offered $45million by Alphabet, Google's parent firm, after he was accused of groping a colleague at a 'boozy off-site event' with the company.
Details of the exit package were revealed as part of a shareholder lawsuit against the company, one that followed a published report of payouts Google made to executives accused of sexual misconduct.
Previously redacted portions of the lawsuit were made available Monday, including quotes from Alphabet board committee meetings.
They come just months after thousands of Google employees staged a global walk-out after it was revealed Android creator Andy Rubin received a $90million severance package after a woman accused him of forcing her into oral sex.
Google investigated the accusation against Singhal and found it to be credible.
Yet the former senior vice president was not fired, but instead allowed to resign.
Singhal claimed that he was stepping down from the company in February 2016 to focus on his family and philanthropy.
He even wrote a blog post in which he promised to spend the next 15 years giving back to 'people who are less fortunate'.
Singhal only ended up receiving $15million from Alphabet because he joined Uber, according to the Wall Street Journal.
He was forced to resign as the app's SVP of engineering after just five weeks when the company discovered he failed to disclose the sexual misconduct allegation.
Additional Information from the Verge