Grabar Law Office has filed an action pursuant to 8 Del. C. § 220 to enforce Plaintiff’s statutory right to inspect certain books and records of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, Inc. relating to meetings of Alphabet’s Board of Directors “during which allegations of sexual misconduct against Google employees were discussed” and “during which potential data breaches involving the unauthorized disclosure of Google product users’ personal data was discussed.”
As alleged in the Complaint, on October 25, 2018, in an article entitled “How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the ‘Father of Android,’” The New York Times reported online (the “NYT Article”) that Google paid Rubin approximately $90 million as part of a severance package, and delayed repayment of a $14 million loan to Rubin, to conceal allegations of sexual misconduct against Rubin.
On November 1, 2018, shortly after the NYT Article was published, more than 20,000 Google employees and contractors worldwide, approximately 20% of the Company’s total workforce, staged a walkout to protest “sexual harassment, misconduct, lack of transparency, and a non-inclusive workplace culture.”
Moreover, on October 8, 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported in an article entitled “Google Exposed User Data, Feared Repercussions of Disclosing to Public” (the “WSJ Article”) that internal investigators at the Company discovered in March 2018 a glitch in the software for Google+, the Company’s social media site, which allowed outside developers potential access to private Google+ users profile data between 2015 and March 2018.
The WSJ Article stated that “[a] memo reviewed . . . prepared by Google’s legal and policy staff and shared with senior executives warned that disclosing the incident would likely trigger ‘immediate regulatory interest’ and invite comparisons to Facebook’s leak of user information to data firm Cambridge Analytica.” Moreover, Google LLC CEO and Board member “Pichai was briefed on the plan not to notify users after an internal committee had reached that decision.”
As alleged in the Complaint, “[t]here is a credible basis upon which it may be inferred that mismanagement, in the form of materially false and misleading statements by the Company and its officers and directors, may have occurred.”
A public version of the Complaint can be viewed here: Alphabet Inc. 220 Complaint – Public Version
A news article about the Complaint can be viewed here: Alphabet Sued for Records Related to Data Breach, Alleged Sexual Misconduct at Google _ The Recorder
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