Read the email that Tinder's owner sent refuting the claims made by its former marketing exec who is accusing the company of covering up her alleged assault

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Read the email that Tinder's owner sent refuting the claims made by its former marketing exec who is accusing the company of covering up her alleged assault

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Mandy Ginsberg

Jerod Harris/Getty Images

Mandy Ginsberg, Tinder CEO.

  • Former Tinder VP Rosette Pambakian is suing former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt, who she alleges sexually assaulted her. She is also suing Tinder's parent companies, Match Group and IAC/Interactive Corp., alleging that they covered up the assault and wrongfully terminated her employment.
  • Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg said in a December 2018 email that Pambakian never reported Blatt for sexual harassment, and she was not terminated over a sexual harassment complaint.
  • The lawsuit alleges that Blatt assaulted Pambakian in a Beverly Hills hotel room in front of witnesses the night of Tinder's holiday party in December 2016.
  • The lawsuit also alleges that a meaningful investigation into her claims never occurred, Tinder's parent companies tried to buy Pambakian's silence, and the parent companies used a separate lawsuit as an excuse to terminate Pambakian.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Former Tinder VP Rosette Pambakian filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt of sexual assault. Now, Tinder's parent company, Match Group, is firing back, saying Pambakian never reported Blatt for sexual harassment.

In response to Monday's lawsuit, a spokesperson for Match Group provided Business Insider with an email written by Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg to Pambakian in December 2018 following Pambakian's termination.

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The email was written after an earlier lawsuit was filed in August 2018. Business Insider reported then that 10 employees and former employees, including Pambakian, sued Tinder's parent company IAC alleging it purposefully undervalued Tinder in an attempt to devalue early employee options. The current lawsuit says that Pambakian was placed on leave one day after the 2018 lawsuit was filed, and her employment was officially terminated in December 2018.

"You were not terminated because you reported Greg for sexual harassment. You couldn't have been, as you never reported Greg for sexual harassment," Ginsberg wrote in her email to Pambakian.

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Pambakian's lawsuit alleges that Blatt assaulted Pambakian in a Beverly Hills hotel room the night of Tinder's holiday party in December 2016. It also says that Pambakian reported the assault to her supervisor, VP Matt David, days after the alleged sexual assault, and that David did not report the alleged misconduct to Human Resources. 

Ginsberg wrote that Tinder founder Sean Rad brought the allegation to the attention of the company five months after the alleged incident; Pambakian's lawsuit also says Rad brought the alleged assault to Lisa Nelson, Chief Human Resources Officer at Match Group and Tinder.

According to Ginsberg's email, the allegation "was immediately and thoroughly investigated by the Board" and "concluded that no sexual harassment occurred." Ginsberg wrote that Pambakian was interviewed twice and did not allege sexual harassment in either meeting. Furthermore, Ginsberg said that Pambakian reported two other male colleagues, who were consequently dismissed. 

"You were terminated because it was not possible for you to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of your role as Tinder's spokesperson," Ginsberg wrote. "Your position was never at risk due to any sexual harassment complaints."

Ginsberg said Pambakian was unable to fulfill her duties, writing that Tinder was told it could only contact Pambakian through her attorneys. "Unfortunately it's impossible for you to do your work at Tinder if all communications related to your job have to go through your lawyers," Ginsberg wrote.

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Finally, Ginsberg said that the company never tried to force Pambakian to sign a non-disparagement agreement. 

The current lawsuit refutes Ginsberg's statements that Pambakian never reported the alleged assault, that the alleged assault was thoroughly investigated, that Pambakian was not terminated because of the assault allegation, and that she wasn't forced to sign a non-disparagement agreement. 

Pambakian's lawsuit says that a meaningful investigation of the assault never occurred, accuses Tinder's parent companies of trying to buy her silence (saying Pambakian was offered a higher salary if she signed a non-disclosure/disparagement agreement in October 2017), and says that the parent companies used the August 2018 lawsuit as an excuse to terminate Pambakian. 

"I would take that email with a grain of salt," said Pambakian's attorney Elizabeth Graham, who reiterated that Ginsberg's email was written in regards to the separate, previous lawsuit in 2018. 

"She reported it to her supervisor, Sean knew about it, and still nothing was done," Graham said about Ginsberg's claim that Pambakian reported Blatt for sexual harassment.

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Read more: Tinder's former marketing chief is suing the firm, claiming its ex-CEO groped and kissed her without consent

Read the full text of the email from Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg to former Tinder VP Rosette Pambakian below: 

Dear Rosette,

I'm glad you reached out to me directly and I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few points, because there seems to be a very real disconnect here that I truly want to fix.

You were not terminated because you reported Greg for sexual harassment. You couldn't have been, as you never reported Greg for sexual harassment. When Sean Rad brought the subject up nearly five months later, right after the valuation process commenced, it was immediately and thoroughly investigated by the Board, independently without any involvement from Greg, which concluded that no sexual harassment occurred. I was not the CEO at the time, but I know that you were interviewed on at least two separate occasions and you never alleged sexual harassment.

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On the topic of sexual harassment at Tinder, you know how seriously reports are taken. You yourself reported two other male colleagues, whom Sean Rad hired, and they were very quickly dismissed. Clearly, it was taken very seriously given the company terminated those individuals. More importantly though, Greg is no longer here. I am. And I promise you, we do not retaliate against anyone who reports sexual harassment. Your position was never at risk due to any sexual harassment complaints. I wanted to find a way to keep you employed at Tinder.

As explained in the letter we sent you, you were terminated because it was not possible for you to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of your role as Tinder's spokesperson for a number of reasons, including your public position against the company over a valuation process. We also recently asked you to come to the office for a meeting with the HR department to discuss work-related activities and policies and were told that we can only contact you through your attorneys. Unfortunately, it's impossible for you to do your work at Tinder if all communications related to your job have to go through your lawyers. As it relates to your personal information, any suggestion that we have been trying to access it is just not true. Like any company, we've asked for you, and all other employees involved, to return company laptops, phones and other devices to us. And unfortunately, we couldn't retrieve a number of company devices from you and the others since you claimed that they were coincidentally all lost or damaged just before you decided to sue the company.

There are two last points I want to make: on the point about your equity, those options have already been accelerated, and should be exercisable in your account, along with the other equity awards that have vested since August. However, on the arbitration agreements, there is no NDA in them and we never tried to force you to sign a non-disparagement agreement. You're free to talk about anything publicly that you'd like. You have already done so and that's your prerogative. But the arbitration agreement is attached again. As you already know from when you signed it, it's clearly labeled "Agreement to Arbitrate."

I am a strong female advocate and have said to the women in the organization that as a female CEO in charge, I have zero tolerance for bad behavior and I am very much invested in every single employee's success. If you'd like to discuss any of the above, or have a productive dialogue, I am here and will make myself available for an in person meeting. Just let me know.

Mandy

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Read Rosette Pambakian's August 2019 lawsuit here:

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