The 31-year-old former mistress of 70-year-old ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt is accusing the tech billionaire of stalking, emotional abuse, “toxic masculinity” and subjecting her to an “absolute digital surveillance system.”
The mistress, Michelle Ritter, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming the powerful mogul used his resources and technical know-how to control her and exact revenge after their relationship ended.
Ritter, a Columbia Law School graduate who met Schmidt in 2020 while still a student, claims the relationship turned toxic over disputes over money, a failed AI startup called Steel Perlot and access to a lavish Bel Air mansion.
Schmidt reportedly invested $100 million in Steel Perlot, where Ritter was founder and CEO. But according to the court, Schmidt locked her out of the company’s website and followed her every digital move, making private conversations or emails impossible without his supervision.
“Note Eric’s technical background,” according to the application, obtained by the New York Poststates. “I literally cannot make a private phone call or send a private email without supervision.”
Schmidt reportedly has an open marriage with his wife of 45 years, Wendy Schmidt.
The Post reports:
In early December, Ritter and Schmidt — whose net worth is estimated by Bloomberg at $44.8 billion — entered into a “written settlement agreement” that required Schmidt to make “substantial payments” to Ritter, but the details of which remain secret, according to a Sept. 8 filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
But just a week later, on December 11, Ritter filed an explosive “domestic violence injunction” against Schmidt — only to withdraw it three weeks later, on January 6, after the two sides apparently reached a new agreement, court documents show.
In the now-withdrawn TRO request, Ritter alleged that the tech mogul days earlier locked her out of the website of her startup Steel Perlot — an AI-focused venture firm into which Schmidt had poured $100 million, a source close to the situation told The Post.
The court also alleges that the tech billionaire attempted to place Ritter under “a silence order over allegations of sexual assault or harassment and sign a knowingly false statement that such allegations never occurred.”
Schmidt’s legal team fired back in an 82-page response on October 8, 2024, calling Ritter’s claims “demonstrably false” and a “blatant abuse of the legal system.” Much of the document is being redacted ahead of a court hearing on the case due to take place in December.
The Post notes that Schmidt’s previous affairs include “fashion designers, socialites, PR executives and concert pianists. In 2019, Schmidt gifted his then-girlfriend, Alexandra Duisberg — a blonde medical student turned fashionista who was 32 years his junior — a huge, 10-carat pink sapphire ring that sparked engagement rumors.”
#Google #CEO #Eric #Schmidt #filed #exmistress #lawsuit #alleging #stalking #toxic #masculinity #abuse #digital #surveillance #Gateway #Expert #Cassandra #MacDonald