Eric Schmidt’s former mistress has filed explosive new allegations in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accusing the former Google CEO of rape, covert surveillance, and a pattern of physical and emotional abuse throughout their four-year relationship and joint business ventures.
According to the New York Post, Michelle Ritter, a 31-year-old tech entrepreneur, claims Schmidt, now 70, subjected her to sexual battery, voyeurism, harassment, and even violations of hacking and wiretapping laws.
The allegations deepen an already bitter legal fight that began last month, when details of their deteriorated relationship and failed business partnership first surfaced.
Ritter says the abuse began early in their involvement, which started in 2020. In her filing, she alleged a horrific assault in which Schmidt “followed me into a shower, slammed me against the wall, and forcibly raped me.”
“I begged him to stop and cried out that he was hurting me, but he ignored my pleas,” she stated. The next morning, she said, Schmidt tried to convince her she had “enjoyed the assault.”
She further alleges that in August 2023, at Burning Man, Schmidt initiated sex while she slept. “I clearly told him ‘no’ and tried to get him to stop,” she wrote, saying physical resistance made matters worse.
Ritter also accuses Schmidt of secretly photographing her nude “on multiple occasions,” including entering the bathroom while she showered. She alleges he pressured her with sexual fetishes and made degrading comments about her appearance.
Other claims include being shoved, bruised, screamed at, and pushed into a desk during an incident in New York. She describes Schmidt as “erratic,” accusing him of exposing himself to his private jet’s flight crew and transporting marijuana on board.
Ritter says Schmidt pushed her to appear “really hot and sexy” in business settings and urged her to use stimulants to lose weight, only to mock her later for looking “emaciated.”
In front of colleagues, she claims he said, “You should see her naked,” and after she misspoke, added, “At least she’s good looking.”
Her filing alleges Schmidt installed spyware on her devices in 2021, giving him access to her emails, documents, and texts. She claims documents would disappear or change in real time. She also alleges Schmidt told her he created a “backdoor” to Google servers to access private information about employees and her.
The relationship, according to Ritter, collapsed in early 2024 after photos emerged of Schmidt with a 22-year-old woman. She says surveillance escalated afterward, including hidden cameras in her home and private investigators trailing her parents.
On Nov. 7, 2024, Ritter alleges Schmidt broke into her Tesla outside Nobu Malibu and stole her laptop, claiming restaurant security cameras captured him.
Schmidt’s attorney, Patricia Glaser, rejected the accusations, calling them “false and defamatory” and saying they contradict Ritter’s prior statements. Schmidt argues the dispute stems from Ritter’s “mismanagement” of their startup, Steel Perlot, and claims she is attempting to “extort” him.
Ritter’s lawyer, Skip Miller, responded: “A billionaire tech titan, the powerful former head of Google, took advantage of and abused a brilliant young woman… because she dumped him. This lawsuit is to get her justice.”
Ritter and Schmidt met in 2020 through a business contact. Ritter, then 26, pitched a startup idea, and the pair later launched Steel Perlot, which helped incubate companies including Keeta. Ritter says she also assisted Schmidt with projects ranging from Senate testimony to his book with Henry Kissinger.
She now claims Schmidt used accounting maneuvers to burden Steel Perlot with debt, ousted her from leadership roles, forged her signature, and locked her out of their shared home.
The case, which began with sealed filings in September, is tangled in arbitration disputes. Ritter says pressure from Schmidt’s team previously forced her to retract claims. Schmidt accuses her of refusing to vacate a Beverly Hills mansion and stealing over $1 million in property.
Schmidt, long known for high-profile relationships with younger women, has not publicly commented beyond his attorney’s statements.
