Former Google chief accused of spying on employees through account ‘backdoor’

When Columbia College regulation and MBA pupil Michelle Ritter met former Google chief government Eric Schmidt in 2020, she stated she wished to pitch a possible funding in a sports activities tech startup she had been growing.

That dinner blossomed into way more, a romance and enterprise partnership through which she says the 70-year-old billionaire invested in extra of $100 million right into a collectively owned tech incubator — earlier than all of it fell aside.

Now, Ritter is accusing Schmidt of stealing enterprise out from beneath her, sexually assaulting her twice throughout their relationship, and tapping his Google background to hack into her electronic mail and on-line pc recordsdata, in keeping with a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket.

“Throughout their relationship, Schmidt confided that when he labored at Google, he constructed an insider “backdoor” to Google servers with a crew of Google engineers to be able to spy on Google staff. Accordingly, the backdoor enabled him to entry anybody’s Google account and personal info,” the lawsuit says.

Google can be named as a defendant within the lawsuit and is alleged to “knowingly acquiescing in, failing to treatment, and materially aiding the unauthorized entry” into Ritter’s accounts regardless of being supplied discover. Schmidt and the corporate are accused of violating the California Complete Pc Information Entry and Fraud Act, and a piece of the state penal code that prohibits wiretapping.

Patricia Glaser, an legal professional representing Schmidt, referred to as the lawsuit “yet one more determined and damaging effort to publish false and defamatory statements to flee accountability from an present arbitration over a enterprise dispute.”

Glaser added: “The claims made listed below are straight contradicted by her personal phrases … and are only a ultimate Hail Mary to save lots of her from the implications of her personal actions. We’re assured that we are going to prevail on each the precise authorized concern implementing the arbitration and disproving these fabricated pathetic allegations.”

Google didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The criticism is the most recent submitting in a authorized dispute that stretches again to not less than December 2024, when Ritter sought a home violence restraining order towards Schmidt. She later withdrew it after reaching a monetary settlement with Schmidt with whom she had began the high-tech New York incubator with places of work in Los Angeles, in keeping with courtroom information.

In her new lawsuit, Ritter alleges that Schmidt has not honored the settlement resulting from false accusations she was behind a media leak. She is searching for to have the settlement, which requires arbitration of disputes, thrown out.

Schmidt’s attorneys have referred to as her authorized filings a “blatant abuse of the judicial system” and a “clear hit piece meant to smear and defame” Schmidt, in keeping with courtroom information. He’s searching for to have the dispute settled in arbitration.

A number of information within the case are beneath seal and plenty of filings are closely redacted. The lawsuit seeks not less than $100 million in damages, with the subsequent listening to set for Dec. 4. She is being represented by the regulation agency of outstanding Los Angeles legal professional Skip Miller.

Schmidt served as Google chief government from 2001 to 2011 and later because the chairman of the Silicon Valley firm and its guardian, Alphabet Inc., till 2017. He retains shares in guardian Alphabet value about $14 billion giving him a internet value of about $34 billion, in keeping with Forbes. He owns a number of properties in larger Los Angeles.

Within the software for the December 2024 restraining order, Ritter alleged she lived in an “absolute digital surveillance system” and that Schmidt had directed associates to steal her company web site, take management of her digital enterprise information and have private investigators comply with her mother and father, in keeping with a courtroom submitting.

The restraining order request additionally requested the decide to order Schmidt to not assault her “sexually or in any other case.”

The lawsuit filed on Wednesday gives extra particulars about their enterprise ventures and alleges a private relationship that developed to the purpose that Schmidt made guarantees to marry her and have kids, regardless of their 39-year age hole.

The lawsuit states their Metal Perlot enterprise was successful, with Schmidt investing greater than $100 million into the accelerator and its startups in AI, crypto and different industries — prompting Schmidt to wrest management of the enterprise and its companies from her.

Media reviews recommend in any other case. Forbes has written the enterprise ran out of cash in 2003 and wanted hundreds of thousands from Schmidt to fulfill payroll and different bills.

The lawsuit alleges that Schmidt grew to become abusive as the connection progressed and he “forcibly raped” her whereas on a yacht off the coast of Mexico in November 2021 and had intercourse along with her with out her consent throughout the Burning Man pageant in Nevada in August 2023.

Schmidt, who has been married greater than 40 years, has been linked romantically within the media with a collection of a lot youthful ladies.

The bitter dispute with Ritter echoes one other enterprise disagreement he had with public relations government Marcy Simon, with whom he had a two-decade relationship that led to 2014. It additionally concerned a troubled joint enterprise enterprise, in keeping with a New York Occasions report. The report didn’t contain sexual assault claims.

Schmidt has achieved a sure gravitas in Silicon Valley, serving as tech advisor to the Obama administration and the navy, testifying about synthetic intelligence on Capitol Hill and giving freely more than $1 billion in charity.

He’s additionally an element proprietor of the Washington Commanders soccer crew and has amassed a real estate portfolio estimated to be value a number of hundred million {dollars}.

Schmidt is reported to have spent $110 million this yr on the 56,000-square-foot mansion in Holmby Hills constructed by the late producer Aaron Spelling. In 2021, he acquired a 15,000-square-foot Bel Air property beforehand owned by the Hilton household, the place courtroom information point out Ritter lived on the time she filed the restraining order.

Schmidt earlier this yr took a controlling interest in Relativity House, a Lengthy Seashore startup based in 2015 with the intent to convey 3-D manufacturing to rocketry.

Nonetheless, it has since shifted its focus and Schmidt indicated in a social media submit that his curiosity might must do with launching AI data centers into house resulting from their enormous energy wants.