The ex-girlfriend of a former Google CEO alleges abusive and controlling behaviour by the married billionaire tech titan.
According to court documents filed last month to Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by the New York Post , Michelle Ritter filed for a temporary restraining order against 70-year-old Eric Schmidt in early December 2024.
“Unfortunately, my former partner is extraordinarily powerful and capable and has used every mean[s] to block me from getting access to secure data, devices, finances, or businesses, or to simply live my life in peace,” she said in her claim.
The tech leader, who has been with his wife Wendy Schmidt for 45 years, has reportedly been in an open marriage for years.
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Ritter, 31, accused him of “toxic masculinity” after she was allegedly subjected to an “absolute digital surveillance system,” the documents read. A “written settlement agreement” required Schmidt to make “substantial payments” to her, but details of the deal remain sealed.
However, on Dec. 11, court documents showed Ritter filed a “domestic violence restraining order” against Schmidt. It was only withdrawn three weeks later after both sides came to a new agreement.
Schmidt, worth an estimated $45.2 billion (C$63.4 billion) by Bloomberg , is accused of locking Ritter out of AI startup Steel Perlot which he has invested $100 million into the venture, a source told The Post .
“Please note Eric’s technical background,” Ritter alleged in the filing. “I literally cannot have a private phone call or send a private email without surveillance.”
The court document also claims that Schmidt required Ritter to agree to a “gag order on any sexual assault or harassment allegations and sign a knowingly false declaration that any such allegations never happened.”
On Oct. 8, Schmidt’s lawyers filed an 82-page response that called Ritter’s claims “demonstrably false” and that her filing was a “blatant abuse of the judicial system.”
