Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been hit with an inflammatory lawsuit filed by his 31-year-old girl friend Michelle Ritter. Having once founded an AI startup thanks to the billionaire titan’s funding, the tech entrepreneur has accused the 70-year-old influential figure of stalking, abuse, and subjecting her to an “absolute digital surveillance system.”
According to an exclusive report The New York Post, Schmidt and his former girlfriend are believed to have been embroiled in a heated discord over money, the failed AI venture and a Bel Air mansion.
Their legal skirmish hit the ceiling in December 2024, when Ritter filed a “domestic violence restraining order” against Eric. Therein, she called her former partner “extraordinarily powerful and capable,” while insisting that he had done everything possible to block her from “getting access to secure data, devices, finances or businesses, or to simply live my life in peace.”
In her filing, Ritter’s alleged that given Eric Schmidt’s technical background, she wasn’t even allowed to make a private phone call or email without any surveillance. As per her account laid out in the documents, the ex-Google CEO allegedly left her with no choice but to acquiesce to “a gag order on any sexual assault or harassment allegations and sign a knowingly false declaration that any such allegations never happened.”
On top of that, her officially listed allegations mentioned that two days before she filed the RTO, her parents were reportedly tailed by someone during a restaurant outing. One of the private investigators questioned by the police in the aftermath admitted to being employed for a “billionaire’s private security detail,” but steered clear of naming him.
Michelle Ritter’s December RTO filing was withdrawn weeks later
However, the RTO was ultimately retracted in January, with both sides settling on an agreement, as per court documents.
The “written settlement agreement” pushed the ex-Google exec to make “substantial payments” to his former girlfriend, who has long accused the tech titan of keeping her out of her AI-focussed startup Steel Perlot’s website. The development eventually made headlines this week after a September 8 filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court came to the surface.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt responds to Michelle Ritter’s abuse allegations
Meanwhile, Schmidt’s lawyers have since slammed Michelle Ritter in an 82-page October 8 response. In turn accusing her of filing a false complaint, they reduced her move to a “blatant abuse of the judicial system.” Most of the documents remained redacted.
Who is Michelle Ritter?
Often described as Silicon Valley’s “Casanova,” Eric Schmidt has long been reported to be a part of an open marriage with his wife, Wendy. Last year, he made contentious headlines for his association with the much-younger Michelle Ritter over his $100 million backing of her venture.
As per The Post, she and the former Google boss crossed paths when she was a student at Columbia University. They ultimately struck up a romantic relationship in 2020. After the 2021 Columbia Law School graduate and Schmidt started dating, another company, Audem Management was established, according to Forbes. It is said to have been managed by Ritter’s father, and is “used to pay a staff of butlers, housekeepers, maintenance and construction workers at properties owned by Schmidt and at times occupied by Ritter.”
Her profile on the Columbia Business School website still lists her as the founder and CEO of Steel Perlot, with Eric Schmidt as the chair. Meanwhile, her LinkedIn account also credits her as being the founder and CEO of StarX – launched in May 2020. She also serves as a member of the Executive Advisory Board for Richard Paul Richman Centre for Business, Law and Public Policy. Moreover, she and Schmidt have even been mentioned as the co-founders of the “digital dollar initiative” Knox Networks, later renamed Knova.
Addressing her position in the company formerly known as Knox Networks, she wrote in a LinkedIn post last month: “Over four years ago, I founded a company in the financial payments space and later brought on a cofounder. I built it from the ground up and was the largest equity holder aside from a single investor and board member. After a professional relationship with that investor — one I later discovered was inseparably tied to personal dynamics — ended, I was pushed out. That was over 15 months ago.”
“Despite my contributions and equity ownership as the second largest shareholder, I have received no updates on equity, no information about the company, and no compensation for the work, value, and intellectual property I created. I worked solely for equity and am proud of what we built. I was told that in order to receive any such updates I would have to forfeit any rights as a shareholder in speaking with others. (Remember, I was the second largest shareholder and worked for equity.)”
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