Tinder parent company sues co-founder Sean Rad for $250 million accusing him of stealing corporate secrets before he was fired
- Tinder parent company Match Group filed the suit on Tuesday in Manhattan
- Accuses Tinder co-founder Sean Rad of stealing company files and secrets
- Comes six months after Rad accused Tinder owners of stock incentive scam
- Rad, then 28, was fired as Tinder chairman in September over lack of experience
Online dating company Match Group Inc and its parent company IAC have filed a lawsuit against Sean Rad, a co-founder of Tinder, accusing him of secretly copying company files and other proprietary information.
The lawsuit, filed in New York state court in Manhattan late on Tuesday, comes six months after Rad and other co-founders, executives and early employees of Tinder sued IAC, accusing it of undervaluing Tinder to avoid paying them billions of dollars.
The lawsuit claims at least $250 million in damages, which Match and IAC said represented ‘the portion of the equity compensation Rad received but that he was not entitled to by virtue of his wrongdoing.’
Rad was fired as chairman of Tinder in September 2017 over fears that the then 28-year-old would be able to manage the company’s growth. He claimed in his suit that he was forced to cash in his stock options for $94 million and about 816,000 shares of IAC stock, worth around $138 million at the time.
Online dating company Match Group Inc and its parent company IAC have filed a lawsuit against Sean Rad (above), a co-founder of Match Group’s popular dating service Tinder
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IAC and Match in the complaint alleged that in violation of an employment agreement, over several years Rad created backups of internal emails, forwarded company emails to a personal email address, and directly copied company files that included ‘highly sensitive, non-public information concerning his employers’ business strategies and plans.’
Orin Snyder, a lawyer for Rad, who lives in Los Angeles, said in a statement that the lawsuit was ‘ridiculous’ because Rad’s employment contract allowed him to back up his email.
‘Do IAC and Match really think the jury won’t see right through this desperate act of retaliation?’ Snyder said.
Rad’s initial lawsuit in August accused IAC and Match of cheating him and other early employees out of money by manipulating financial information to create a lowball estimate of Tinder’s value, as well as mishandling a 2016 alleged sexual assault against a Tinder staffer by then-interim CEO Greg Blatt.
The plaintiffs, including founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen, claim Match and IAC did not comply with agreements with Tinder employees, created false valuations and attempted to distinguish employees’ stock options.
IAC is controlled by Chairman and Senior Executive Barry Diller (above), who created the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting
Mateen was previously sued by former VP of Marketing Whitney Wolfe, now CEO of Bumble, alleging sexual harassment and discrimination, which she eventually settled.
The defendants, of which Tinder is now included since it’s been acquired by IAC-subsidiary Match, called the allegations ‘meritless’ in the lawsuit.
IAC is controlled by Chairman and Senior Executive Barry Diller, who created the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.
The complaint seeks relief in the form of ‘compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but not less than $2,000,000,000.’
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