By Caroline Petrow-Cohen
Publication Date: 2026-06-02 20:43:00
An arbitrator has sided with former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, ruling that he was not guilty of sexual assault against his former girlfriend and business partner Michelle Ritter.
The arbitrator, retired Washington State Judge Beth Andrus, recently ordered Ritter to pay $10.7 million in damages to Schmidt.
Ritter sued Schmidt in Los Angeles County Superior Court last September, accusing the billionaire tech mogul of “forcibly” raping her on a yacht off the coast of Mexico in 2021. She also alleged Schmidt forced her to have nonconsensual sex at the Burning Man festival in 2023.
“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,” Ritter said in a legal filing.
Schmidt has denied the accusations under oath. The arbitrator said that Ritter did “everything she could possibly do” to avoid discussing the rape accusations under oath.
Ritter had a romantic…
