Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has won a major legal dispute after an arbitrator ruled that rape allegations made by his ex-girlfriend were false and awarded him more than $10 million in damages, the L.A. Times reported Monday, June 2.
Retired Washington state Judge Beth Andrus, serving as arbitrator in the case, found that Michelle Ritter, 32, engaged "in defamation by falsely and with malice accusing Schmidt of sexual assault and sexual harassment," according to Page Six.
Andrus noted that Ritter "did everything she could possibly do" to avoid being questioned about the rape accusations under oath.
"I find that Ritter's statement that she was raped by Schmidt to be false," Andrus wrote in the interim ruling, according to the outlet.
"Schmidt categorically denies under oath that he ever sexually assaulted or physically abused Ritter."
Andrus added in his ruling that Ritter's "shameful false claims of sexual assault, advanced to extort and punish Schmidt, undermine and impair the pursuit of justice by legitimate victims."
The arbitrator ordered Ritter to pay Schmidt $10.7 million in damages, with the total expected to increase once a final ruling is issued.
The Daily Mail reported in October 2025 that Ritter had filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court last September, alleging Schmidt, 71, assaulted her on a yacht off the coast of Mexico in 2021 and again at the 2023 Burning Man festival.
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