When Columbia University law student and MBA Michelle Ritter met with former Google executive Eric Schmidt in 2020, she said she wanted to pitch a potential investment in a sports technology startup she was developing.
That dinner blossomed into something more: a romantic and business partnership in which she says the 70-year-old billionaire invested more than $100 million in a joint technology incubator — before it all fell apart.
Ritter now accuses Schmidt of stealing her business, sexually assaulting her twice during their relationship and using his Google credentials to hack into her email and online computer files, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
“During their relationship, Schmidt admitted that while he worked at Google, he and a team of Google engineers built an insider 'backdoor' on Google servers to spy on Google employees. Accordingly, the backdoor allowed him to gain access to someone's Google account and personal information,” the lawsuit states.
Google is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit and is accused of “knowingly consenting to, failing to remedy, and providing material assistance in the unauthorized access” to Ritter's accounts despite being given notice. Schmidt and the company are accused of violating the California Comprehensive Computer Security and Fraud Act and the section of the state criminal code that prohibits wiretapping.
Patricia Glaser, an attorney representing Schmidt, called the lawsuit “another desperate and destructive attempt to publish false and defamatory statements to avoid liability in existing business arbitration.”
Glaser added: “The claims made here are in direct contradiction to her own words… and are merely a final Hail Mary to save her from the consequences of her own actions. We are confident that we will prevail both on the specific legal issue enforcing arbitration and on refuting these trumped-up, pathetic allegations.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The complaint is the latest filing in a legal dispute that dates back to at least December 2024, when Ritter sought a domestic violence restraining order against Schmidt. She later withdrew it after reaching a financial settlement with Schmidt, with whom she founded a high-tech incubator in New York with offices in Los Angeles, according to court records.
In her new lawsuit, Ritter alleges that Schmidt failed to comply with the settlement agreement due to false allegations that she was behind leaks to the media. She is seeking to overturn an agreement requiring arbitration of disputes.
According to court records, Schmidt's lawyers called her lawsuits a “blatant abuse of the judicial system” and a “transparent article designed to smear and discredit” Schmidt. He seeks resolution of the dispute in arbitration.
Some materials on this case are classified, and many documents are heavily redacted. The lawsuit seeks at least $100 million in damages and the next hearing is scheduled for December 4. Ritter is represented by the law firm of prominent Los Angeles attorney Skip Miller.
Schmidt served as Google's CEO from 2001 to 2011 and later served as chairman of the Silicon Valley company and its parent company Alphabet Inc. until 2017. He retains about $14 billion worth of shares in parent company Alphabet, giving him a net worth of about $34 billion, according to Forbes. He owns several homes in Greater Los Angeles.
In a December 2024 restraining order application, Ritter alleged that she lived under a “totally digital surveillance system” and that Schmidt directed his partners to steal her corporate website, take control of her digital business records and have personal investigators spy on her parents, according to court filings.
The request for a restraining order also asked the judge to order Schmidt not to assault her “sexually or otherwise.”
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, provides more details about their business ventures and alleges that a personal relationship developed to the point that Schmidt promised to marry her and have children despite their 39-year age difference.
The lawsuit says their venture, Steel Perlot, was a success: Schmidt invested more than $100 million in the accelerator and its startups in artificial intelligence, cryptography and other industries, prompting Schmidt to wrest control of the venture and its business from her.
Media reports suggest otherwise. Forbes wrote that the business ran out of money in 2003 and needed millions from Schmidt to cover payroll and other expenses.
The lawsuit alleges that Schmidt became abusive as the relationship progressed and “forcibly raped” her while on a yacht off the coast of Mexico in November 2021 and had sex with her without her consent during the Burning Man festival in Nevada in August 2023.
Schmidt, married for more than 40 years, has been romantically linked to a number of much younger women in the media.
The bitter dispute with Ritter echoes another business disagreement he had with public relations executive Marcy Simon, with whom he had a two-decade relationship that ended in 2014. According to a New York Times article, this conflict also involved a troubled joint venture. The report did not contain allegations of sexual assault.
Schmidt has achieved some stature in Silicon Valley, serving as a technical adviser to the Obama administration and the military, testifying about artificial intelligence on Capitol Hill, and giving over 1 billion dollars in charity.
He is also a co-owner of the Washington Commanders football team and has accumulated real estate portfolio is estimated at several hundred million dollars.
Schmidt reportedly spent $110 million this year on a 56,000-square-foot Holmby Hills mansion built by the late producer Aaron Spelling. In 2021, he purchased the 15,000-square-foot Bel Air estate formerly owned by the Hilton family, where Ritter was living at the time the restraining order was filed, according to court records.
Schmidt earlier this year undertook controlling interestst at Relativity Space, a Long Beach startup founded in 2015 with the goal of bringing 3D manufacturing to rocketry.
However, his focus has since shifted, with Schmidt indicating in a social media post that his interest may be in launching Artificial Intelligence Data Centers into space due to huge energy needs.
