Andy Rubin, the creator of the world’s most popular smartphone operating system, has been accused of defrauding his wife Rie Rubin out of tens of millions of dollars, according to a court complaint. The civil complaint filed by Rie Rubin was unsealed by San Mateo Superior Court Judge Susan Greenberg on Tuesday. The unsealed documents were first spotted by Ryan Mac of BuzzFeed News. Rie Rubin also alleged that the Android creator was running a sex ring.
Andy Rubin left Google in 2014 after a female employee accused that he forced her to perform oral sex in a hotel room in 2013. Google paid him a hefty $90 million severance package, which was paid out to Rubin between 2014 and 2018. The severance agreement and Google’s handling of the issue sparked outrage among employees. Last November, more than 20,000 Google employees walked out of the company’s offices across the globe in protest.
Rie Rubin alleges in her complaint that the Android creator kept payments by Google secret from her for several years. Andy Rubin and his former attorney Stephen Peters conspired to defraud her by convincing her to sign a prenuptial agreement under false pretenses. The prenuptial agreement cut her out of Andy Rubin’s wealth obtained from Google, smartphone startup Essential, and Microsoft’s acquisition of Danger, where Andy was a co-founder.
Rie Rubin wants the court to annul the prenuptial agreement, which would make her eligible to claim part of the Android creator’s wealth, which is currently estimated to be $350 million. She alleged that shortly after he left Google, Andy Rubin opened a separate bank account and diverted all the deposits coming from Google to his new account. Before that, the Google paychecks were deposited in the couple’s joint account.
The complaint also alleges that the Android creator had “affairs with multiple women.” Many of them were “ownership” relationships whereby Andy would loan at least five of his mistresses to other men. He would pay for all the expenses of his mistresses, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rie Rubin has included a couple of emails from Andy’s account as proof of the “ownership” relationships.
She goes on to say that one of his mistresses “was complicit with Rubin in running what appeared to be a sex ring.” Rie is also seeking a divorce in a family law court. The prenup agreement protected Andy from the financial consequences of a divorce, says Ryan Mac of BuzzFeed News. The details in her complaint corroborate with an explosive report by the New York Times last October.
The lawsuit names Andy Rubin and his former attorney Stephen Peters. The plaintiff could add more names as their roles in defrauding her are ascertained. Stephen Peters was Andy Rubin’s lawyer in a previous divorce settlement case, and the Android creator recommended him to Rie. As a result, Stephen Peters represented her in the signing of the prenuptial agreement. Google or its parent company Alphabet is not directly named in the lawsuit.
Rie Rubin was unaware at the time that Stephen Peters had worked with Andy in the past. It presented a conflict of interest that Andy and Stephen concealed from her. According to the plaintiff, Stephen Peters didn’t provide independent counsel which was in her best interest. So, she is seeking the prenuptial agreement to be declared invalid.
San Mateo Superior Court Judge Susan Greenberg has allowed the case to proceed, but has asked Rie Rubin to remove the charges of Andy Rubin’s relationships with other women in exchange for payment. The Android creator’s lawyer Ellen Stross told BuzzFeed News that it was a divorce proceeding that should be “litigated in family law court in its entirety.”
Stross added, “This is a garden-variety family law dispute involving a wife who regrets her decision to execute a prenuptial agreement.” Andy Rubin’s lawyer says the complaint was “full of false claims.”
