UPDATED 23:19 EDT / AUGUST 14 2018

APPS

‘Sour grapes,’ says Tinder parent IAC after lawsuit claiming financial manipulation and sexual misconduct

Former Tinder co-founders and executives are suing parent group IAC/InterActiveCorp. for a reported $2 billion.

The lawsuit claims that IAC and one of its business arms, Match Group, cheated employees out of money “by manipulating financial information, undermining Tinder’s valuation and unlawfully stripping away their Tinder stock options.” The 10 plaintiffs include former and current execs and also Tinder co-founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the New York State Supreme Court, also states that former Tinder Chief Executive Gregg Blatt sexually harassed a member of staff, one of the plaintiffs, at a 2016 company party. It claims that this was known to the parent company but ignored because Blatt was involved in the cheating of employees out of billions of dollars.

In the lawsuit, Blatt is accused of being a “lackey” of controlling shareholder Barry Diller. The suit claims that any kind of investigation into the alleged sexual misconduct, let alone a public dismissal, would have “derailed their scheme.” The suit then says once the scheme was complete, Blatt was offered a “lucrative golden parachute” on his “retirement.”

“We were always concerned about IAC’s reputation for ignoring their contractual commitments and acting like the rules don’t apply to them,” said Rad, who was Tinder’s first CEO. “But we never imagined the lengths they would go to cheat all the people who built Tinder. The Tinder team – especially the plaintiffs who are currently senior leaders at the company – have shown tremendous strength in exposing IAC/Match’s systematic violation of employees’ rights.”

IAC and Match Group issued a statement, saying the allegations were “meritless.” It says it has paid out billions in compensation to employees, past and present, and that Tinder’s evaluation was based on a rigorous contractually defined process led by two independent global investment banks.

The statement further says that Rad and Mateen are both experiencing a case of envy, given the success of Tinder following their respective departures. “Sour grapes alone do not a lawsuit make,” says the statement. “Mr. Rad has a rich history of outlandish public statements, and this lawsuit contains just another series of them. We look forward to defending our position in court.”

Image: Pixabay

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