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- Tinder’s former marketing chief, Rosette Pambakian, is suing the company, claiming she was sexually assaulted by its then-CEO Gregory Blatt in 2016.
- Pambakian claims she was groped and kissed by Blatt against her will after he visited her hotel room following a company party.
- The legal action is separate from a $2 billion lawsuit Pambakian co-filed last year in which she claimed that IAC purposely undervalued Tinder.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Tinder’s former marketing and communications chief Rosette Pambakian is suing the dating app, claiming she was sexually assaulted by its ex-CEO.
A lawsuit filed Monday in the Los Angeles Superior Court claimed that Rosette Pambakian was fired from her as marketing vice president last year after complaining about the alleged 2016 incident.
Pambakian said Gregory Blatt, who was then the CEO of Match Group and Tinder, made a lewd overture to her at a company party at a hotel. She says he later groped and kissed her without consent in front of two witnesses.
The lawsuit claimed that Blatt told Pambakian at the party that he got "hard every time I look at you," according to The Verge.
Later in the evening, the lawsuit says Blatt visited Pambakian’s hotel room. Pambakian claimed that in the hotel room he groped her breasts and upper thighs.
Pambakian’s lawyers said Match’s owner, InterActiveCorp (IAC), which is controlled by media mogul Barry Diller, conducted a sham investigation which concluded that the behavior was "consensual cuddling."
InterActiveCorp did not immediately reply to Business Insider’s request for comment. Tinder declined to comment when approached by CNBC.
Match referred The Verge to an old statement in which it said it conducted a "thorough investigation" into Pambakian’s allegations. Blatt could not be reached for comment.
The legal action is separate from a $2 billion lawsuit Pambakian co-filed last year.
Along with nine other current and former Tinder staff, she claimed that IAC purposely undervalued Tinder to reduce the amount it had to pay out in early employee options.
It was in this lawsuit that her sexual assault claims against Blatt first surfaced.
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Jake Kanter)