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Google would have given Andy Rubin, the creator of the world’s most popular mobile operating system Android, 90 million dollars to quit. That after Rubin was accused of sexual abuse by a female employee. Rubin took the money and left.

The New York Times reports this on Thursday on the basis of two top people within Google. A female Google employee had accused Rubin of forced oral sex. Google had investigated the story itself and concluded that the woman was telling the truth, and Rubin was informed about it. Google director Larry Page then asked Rubin to resign.

Affair broken

Rubin did indeed resign and was paid the sum of USD 90 million in several instalments. Google then hushed up the scandal and Larry Page gave in a statement to Andy to wish him well with what he’s going to do now. With Android he has created something very special that more than a billion people are happy with”. At the time there was a rumour that Rubin quit because he felt limited within Google.

That turns out to be wrong. According to the New York Times, Rubin started an affair with the woman in 2012. In 2013 she wanted to break off the relationship and was forced to have oral sex. She then waited until 2014 before filing the complaint with Google’s HR department. That then started an investigation into the case.

Careful research

A Rubin spokesman denies the story and states that every relationship Rubin had with Google in his time was mutual and that there was no question of undesirable sexual behaviour. At the same time, Google CEO Sundar Pichai informs BuzzFeed News that the news is heavy for him and that his company is investigating every complaint about sexual abuse extensively.

Over the past two years, Google is reported to have dismissed 48 people, including 13 managers or higher, who had been found guilty of sexual harassment. None of them would have received severance pay. However, in the past there was already news that Google had protected top men after they had been accused of sexual abuse.

When, in November 2017, the site The Information reported that Google had investigated Rubin because of an inappropriate relationship, he temporarily joined Essential, a company with which Rubin is currently making phones. In the meantime, he has returned to work as CEO of the company.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.