'We will destroy him': Tinder CEO files $50M lawsuit against female exec who accused him of sexual assault but who he says was offered millions by company founder to go public with false allegations in row over stock price

• e-mail

The former CEO of Tinder has field a $50 million lawsuit against both a female executive who has accused him of sexual assault and the co-founder of the dating app.

Greg Blatt claims in court documents that Sean Rad negotiated a multimillion-dollar payout to former marketing executive Rosette Pambakian if she agreed to publicly accuse him of sexual assault.

In his complaint, Blatt says that Rad grew angry with him when the two men arrived at wildly different valuations for Tinder's stock.

Rad 'snapped' according to Blatt, and set out to destroy the CEO for 'interfering with the co-founder's dreams of a lucrative, outsized payout.  

The filing states that he did this in part by recruiting Pambakian, who soon after publicly accused Blatt of sexual assault. 

Blatt said the allegation is a lie, and provided texts, emails and other correspondence that he believes back his claim.

'This is a new low for IAC/Match and their former CEO. They continue to retaliate against and smear a victim of sexual assault and the person who reported it. Their attacks are based on lies and documents that are taken out of context,' said Orin Snyder of Gibson Dunn. 

'When all of the evidence comes to light, it will be obvious what happened here. It’s shameful that these public companies are continuing to cover-up the truth.'

He too: Greg Blatt (left), the former CEO of Tinder, has filed a $50 million lawsuit aaginst Rosette Pambakian (right) and the co-founder of ten dating app, Sean Rad

'In an email to his financial advisor, Rad wrote: "F*** him. We’re at war. We will destroy him. This is going to be the biggest lesson of his life. He will be a changed man... excited for him",' reads the complaint.

'The following week, Rad made a false accusation that Blatt had sexually harassed Pambakian at a Tinder holiday party some five months earlier.'

When that failed to gain much traction, Rad asked Pambakian to help him, but she declined to be part of the scheme on two occasions, claims Blatt.

Then, in December 2017, Rad saw his chance when Pambakian became angry about a restructuring at the company that resulted in her reporting to a newly-hired female executive. 

'Desperate to recruit Pambakian for his scheme to sue Match and IAC, Rad decided to sweeten the pot to induce Pambakian to join him,' states the complaint.

'Specifically, under the guise of a litigation funding agreement, Rad promised millions to Pambakian in exchange for her joining the Valuation Lawsuit and making false allegations of sexual harassment against Blatt.'

Synder responded to that claim by stating: 'That is false. There were no upfront payments promised for joining the lawsuit. The only payments were triggered by IAC/Match retaliating against plaintiffs by stripping away their hard-earned equity.'

It was soon after that Pambakian went public with her allegations, which she has continued to stand by to this day. 

Pambakian, who was Head of Communications, claims that Blatt barged into a hotel room after a 2016 holiday party and began 'forcibly groping [her] breasts and upper thighs, and kissing her shoulders, neck and chest.'

This all happened 'without [her] consent' according to her lawsuit

She states in her court filing that she had been hiding from Blatt at the time of the alleged assault, retreating to the room after he said: 'I get hard every time I look at you. Let's get out of here.'

Pambakian claims Blatt did apologize, but that her complaint was never fully investigated despite the fact that there were three witnesses present, including his executive assistant.

She also notes that one day after Rad reported her allegations to executives at IAC and Match Group, 'Blatt exercised approximately 5 million stock options in Match Group, realizing over $44 million in value.'

Pambakian claims that for the next two years she was 'marginalized, subject to additional harassment, offensive, and insulting behavior, put on administrative leave, publicly accused of consenting to her attacker’s advances, and finally, wrongfully terminated this past December.

The company would not comment on this new filing, and instead referred back to a previous statement that addressed these allegations.

'The Match Group Board – with the assistance of experienced outside counsel from two nationally recognized law firms – promptly conducted a careful and thorough investigation under the direction of independent Board members, concluded, among other things, that there was no violation of law or company policy, and took appropriate action.'

Blatt tells a markedly different version of events in his court filings.

'On the evening of December 9, 2016, Blatt attended the Tinder holiday party. During the party, Blatt and Pambakian started talking and the conversation turned flirtatious when Pambakian said, "You have a magnificent chest, Greg Blatt,"' states the recently filed complaint. 

'After that, they had an irreverent and, at times, ribald and suggestive conversation, with Pambakian and Blatt both laughing throughout. Neither of them indicated at any time that they took offense at the other’s comments, and both were enthusiastic participants. 

'At some point afterward, Pambakian suggested to Blatt that when the party was over, they find a hotel room to host an after-party.'

Blatt claims that he remained downstairs and spoke with a few employees before joining Pambakian and others in a hotel room. 

'For a brief period, Blatt’s and Pambakian’s fully clothed bodies were in contact, and Blatt and Pambakian kissed. The interaction was consensual,' reads the compalint.

'Room service was then delivered. Soon after eating, Blatt departed. While in the hotel room, Blatt and Pambakian were fully clothed at all times.

'After that evening, Pambakian and Blatt never engaged in any further physical encounters.' 

Money: Blatt is accused of sexually assaulting Pambakian, but he claims that this is a lie that was concocted by Rad and Pambakian for monetary gain (l to r: Ryan Ogle, Jonathan Badeen, Sean Rad and Pambakian at Match Group's initial public offering in November 2015)

Pambakian and other Tinder executives sued Match and IAC seeking $2 billion a year ago for allegedly bilking them by manipulating financial information to create a lowball estimate of Tinder's value.

She also detailed the alleged assault in that filing, which the company stated was 'meritless.'

Her claims were later withdrawn however because she and four others had signed an arbitration agreement with the company.

'Just months after cheating Tinder employees out of billions of dollars, IAC / Match tried changing its policies in an attempt to force all current employees out of a public courtroom before a jury and into secret arbitration,' she said at the time.

'IAC / Match did this only after carrying out their scheme. Let me be very clear: IAC / Match will be held accountable and we will continue to support the lawsuit 100% as it unfolds in New York state court.'

Pambakian believes that the company ignored Blatt's conduct because he was part of the group working to undervalue Tinder before it was acquired by IAC and Match Group.

The investigation meanwhile determined that what happened between Blatt and Pambakian was nothing more than 'consensual cuddling.'

At the same time, Pambakian claims that Blatt asked her to lie about the assault when a reporter from Tech Crunch became aware of the alleged incident.

The suit states that she informed 'Blatt and Chief Human Resources Officer, Ms. Nelson, about the reporter’s inquiry' into the allegations, and that her 'own perpetrator' told her to instead 'explain the ways Tinder combats sexual harassment, and to throw the reporter off the story.'

Blatt was later asked to resign his post because of the assault, according to Pambakian, who says that Blatt told her she would need to 'sign something' in order for him to be able to stay in his position.

At the time, she had just refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

She was placed on leave in August 2018 after she and other employees filed their lawsuit, and were terminated on December 18 via email.

'Upon information and belief, Defendants terminated Plaintiff in retaliation for speaking out against Defendant Blatt for his sexual misconduct and for participating in a lawsuit against the Company Defendants related to her stock options,' states the filing.

'As a result of these actions, Plaintiff was forced to surrender millions of dollars in equity granted to her as compensation for her work as an executive at Tinder.'

Pambakian is seeking damages to be determined at trial for eight causes of action, including: Negligence, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Sexual Battery, Gender Violence, Ralph Act Violation, Negligent Misrepresentation, Wrongful Termination and Retaliation for Engaging in Protected Activity.