INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt has filed a defamation lawsuit against Sean Rad and Rosette Pambakian, seeking at least $50 million in damages
and accusing them of having &conspired to make false allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against Blatt with the specific
intent to damage Blatt good name, personal and professional reputation, and credibility.
In response, Rad and Pambakian attorney Orin Snyder
described the suit as part of a campaign ''to retaliate against and smear a victim of sexual assault and the person who reported it.
Last
year, Rad (Tinder co-founder and former CEO), Pambakian (its former vice president of marketing and communications) and other Tinder
founders and executives filed a lawsuit against Tinder parent company Match Group and its majority shareholder IAC, accusing them of
financial manipulation to lower the company valuation and stripping the plaintiffs of lucrative stock options.
The suit also accused Blatt
(pictured above) of groping and sexually harassing Pambakian at the company 2016 holiday party, when Blatt was still Tinder CEO
In response to the suit, Match and IAC said the claims were meritless.
At the time, Pambakian was still employed at Tinder
She laterdropped out of the suit due to an arbitration agreement, and was fired a few months after, leading her to claim that Match did this
&in blatant retaliation for joining a group of colleagues and Tinder original founding members in a lawsuit against Match and IAC, standing
up for our rights, calling out the company CEO Greg for sexual misconduct, and confronting the company about covering up what happened to
me.
Pambakian is now pursuing a separate suit against Blatt and Match Group, accusing them of wrongful termination and sexual
assault.
Tinder founders sue parent companies Match and IAC for at least $2B
Blatt new suit, however, claims:
Rad and Pambakian have
attempted to weaponize an important social movement, undermining the plight of true victims of sexual abuse by making false accusations in
cynical pursuit of a $2 billion windfall … Blatt is expected to be a key witness for IAC and Match in the Valuation Lawsuit
Damaging Blatt credibility and tarnishing his character are important elements of Pambakian and Rad litigation strategy in that action.
The
suit also says that the encounter with Pambakian at the Tinder holiday party involved consensual flirting and kissing, but that they &never
engaged in any further physical encounters& and made mutual apologies the following Monday.
According to the suit, Rad filed a complaint
months later accusing Blatt of harassing Pambakian, and the complaint &was thoroughly investigated by in-house counsel and two outside law
firms,& who concluded that there was no harassment or abuse.
The holiday party and Rad subsequent complaint are also discussed in a draft of
Blatt resignation letter from Tinder (which has been obtained by TechCrunch and other publications), in which Blatt said that after joining
a &female executive& and other Tinder employees in a hotel room, he &engaged in some snuggling and nuzzling (I can''t come up with words
that better describe what I would call the most superficial of human contact) with the female executive.
Blatt went on to describe his
behavior as &really dumb,& while also insisting that ''the snuggling and nuzzling was consensual.
Blatt complaint includes an email that
appears to be from Rad to his financial advisor, written shortly before Rad complaint, in which he wrote about Blatt: &Fuck him
We will destroy him.
The suit also claims that Rad and the firm Bench Walk Advisors offered Pambakian millions of dollars for participating
(Snyder told The Verge there were no upfront payments for participation: &Theonly payments were triggered by IAC/Match retaliating against
plaintiffs by stripping away their hard-earned equity.&)
Here Snyder full statement in response to Blatt suit:
This is a new low for
IAC/Match and their former CEO
They continue to retaliate against and smear a victim of sexual assault and the person who reported it
Their attacks are based on lies and documents that are taken out of context
When all of the evidence comes to light, it will be obvious what happened here
It shameful that these public companies are continuing to cover-up the truth.
And you can read the full suit below.
2019-10-3 Blatt Dkt 18
Firs… by TechCrunch on Scribd
