A Tinder VP wrote a heartfelt email before being put on leave for filing a $2 billion lawsuit against the dating app's owners

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Rosette Pambakian, Tinder's vice president of marketing and communication.

• Tinder's marketing and communications chief Rosette Pambakian has reportedly been put on leave.
• She and three other staff ended up on leave after they sued the dating app's owners for $2 billion.
• Pambakian wrote a heartfelt email to staff claiming it was important to "shine a light on the terrible practices I have witnessed from Match." The email was obtained by Fortune.
• Tinder's owners, InterActiveCorp and Match Group, said the lawsuit is "meritless."

Tinder's marketing and communications chief wrote a heartfelt email to staff before reportedly being placed on administrative leave for suing the dating app's owners.

Rosette Pambakian is one of 10 current and former Tinder staff who filed a $2 billion lawsuit on Tuesday against nterActiveCorp (IAC) and Match Group.

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They allege that IAC purposely undervalued the startup to reduce the amount they had to pay in early employee options. They also claim that former Tinder CEO and IAC Chairman Greg Blatt "groped and sexually harassed" Pambakian.

Pambakian has now been placed on leave while the legal action plays out, according to Fortune. Three other Tinder employees involved in the lawsuit have also been asked to step back from their roles, the report said.

Although Fortune did not identify these other employees, current Tinder staff named as plaintiffs include cofounder Jonathan Badeen, Vice President of Finance James Kim, and Joshua Metz, the director of marketing.

Shining a light on "terrible practices"

In her email to staff on Tuesday, reproduced in full by Fortune, Pambakian said it was important to "shine a light on the terrible practices I have witnessed from Match, including covering up sexual misconduct by senior executives and depriving talented employees of hard-earned compensation."

Pambakian said she had remained at Tinder because of her love for the company, from writing her first press release for the dating app in 2012, to becoming its vice president of marketing and communication.

"I take great pride in having grown Tinder from scrappy startup to global powerhouse, and, with all of your hard work, maintaining Tinder's position as an industry leader," she wrote.

Pambakian continued: "As Tinder employees, we made a deal with IAC and Match that we would work hard and, in return, if we were successful, the company would share the fruits of that success with us. IAC and Match violated those contracts and worse."

Business Insider has contacted Tinder and IAC for comment. IAC said the allegations raised in the lawsuit were "meritless" and it intends to "vigorously defend [itself] against them."

In a statement on Tuesday, it added: "Match Group and the plaintiffs went through a rigorous, contractually-defined valuation process involving two independent global investment banks, and Mr. Rad [Tinder cofounder Sean Rad] and his merry band of plaintiffs did not like the outcome."

You can read Rosette Pambakian's full email on Fortune.