Michelle Ritter, a 31-year-old tech entrepreneur, has filed a detailed court complaint accusing former Google CEO Eric Schmidt of rape, covert surveillance, and a pattern of physical and emotional abuse during their four-year relationship and joint business ventures, with allegations including forced sexual encounters, hidden camera footage of her nude, and the installation of spyware on her devices.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, details multiple incidents of abuse, including a rape allegation in a shower and a sexual assault in August 2023, at Burning Man while she was asleep, alongside claims of digital surveillance and stalking.
“I clearly told him ‘no’ and tried to get him to stop, but I had learned that attempting to resist physically would be futile and make things worse,” her declaration reads.
Ritter alleges Schmidt followed her into a shower, slammed her against the wall, and forcibly raped her, stating she begged him to stop and cried out that he was hurting her, but he ignored her pleas.
“He followed me into a shower, slammed me against the wall, and forcibly raped me,” Ritter alleged. “I begged him to stop and cried out that he was hurting me, but he ignored my pleas. The next morning, Schmidt attempted to convince me that I enjoyed the assault.”
The 31-year-old claims Schmidt secretly photographed her nude on multiple occasions, including entering the bathroom while she showered, and pressured her with sexual fetishes while making degrading comments about her appearance.
“On multiple occasions, Schmidt surreptitiously photographed me without my consent while I was nude, including entering the bathroom to take photographs while I was showering,” she states.
Ritter describes Schmidt as “erratic,” alleging he undressed and exposed himself to his private jet’s flight crew and transported marijuana on the plane.
She also accuses Schmidt of pressuring her to appear “really hot and sexy” at business meetings, urged her to use prescription stimulants for weight loss — only to later mock her for looking “emaciated.”
In front of colleagues, he allegedly made demeaning comments, including: “You should see her naked,” soliciting remarks on how “sexy” she looked, and saying after she misspoke: “At least she’s good looking.”
Ritter asserts that Schmidt installed spyware on her devices in 2021, giving him access to her emails, documents, and texts, and alleges he created a "backdoor" to Google servers to access private information about her and employees.
“On various occasions, Ritter would be using her email account or Google Workspace and saw emails and documents being deleted or altered as if someone else were controlling her keystrokes,” the filing states.
The relationship ended after photos surfaced in early 2024 of Schmidt with a 22-year-old woman, according to court documents. Post-breakup, Ritter alleges the surveillance escalated.
Ritter further alleges that Schmidt broke into her Tesla outside Nobu Malibu on November 7, 2024, stealing her laptop, with restaurant security cameras reportedly capturing the incident.
The 31-year-old claims Schmidt used his technical expertise and wealth to monitor her communications, stating, “I literally cannot have a private phone call or send a private email without surveillance,” and that he locked her out of their shared home and the startup Steel Perlot.
Schmidt’s lawyer and ex-Harvey Weinstein attorney, Patricia Glaser, has rejected the allegations as “false and defamatory,” arguing the dispute stems from Ritter’s mismanagement of their startup and accusing her of attempting to extort him.
“This is the latest desperate and destructive effort to publish false and defamatory statements – which are directly contradicted by her own words – to distract attention and escape accountability from a longstanding business dispute,” Glaser said.
The case, which began with sealed filings in September 2024, is currently tangled in arbitration disputes, with a court hearing scheduled for December 4, 2025.
Schmidt, then 65 and retired from Google with a net worth of $48.3 billion, was married but reportedly in an open relationship with his wife of 45 years, Wendy Schmidt. He was Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011.
Ritter, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a law degree and MBA from Columbia University, met Schmidt, a major Democrat donor, in September 2020 through a business contact. At the time, she was 26 and pitching StarX Networks, a company that allowed fans to invest in athletes’ performance.
Together, they launched Steel Perlot, a startup incubator that helped launch companies such as Keeta, a payment network now valued at $161 million.
Ritter claims she helped edit Schmidt’s book with Henry Kissinger, advised on a Biden administration appointment, drafted Senate testimony, and influenced his bid for the Washington Commanders NFL team.
Schmidt has been linked to other younger women, including fashion designer Shoshanna Gruss, former Olympic skater Alexandra Duisberg. socialite Ulla Parker, and former CNBC correspondent Kate Bohner.
