Alphabet Execs Investigated For Sexual Harassment, Inappropriate Relationships With Employees

The fallout from the very public firing of former McDonald's president and CEO Jim Easterbrook over an affair with a company employee is now seeing a sexual misconduct investigation of executives at Alphabet, Inc., a company that's no stranger to these sordid episodes.

Alphabet is the parent firm of Google Inc., which has also had to cope with executive sexual misconduct in the past.

Alphabet’s board of directors has launched an investigation into how its executives handled claims of sexual harassment and other misconduct. It's assembled an independent subcommittee to look into these explosive issues, and has also engaged a law firm to assist with the sweeping investigation, according to CNBC.

In the board's sights is David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer for Alphabet, who fathered a child with Jennifer Blakely, one of his employees. Drummond admitted to his affair with Blakely, which began in 2007 when he was married to another woman. Both were Google employees at the time.

Drummond subsequently married Corinne Dixon, a Google employee, over the recent Labor Day weekend.

Blakely claims Drummond abandoned their son after their extramarital affair. She also alleges Drummond had affairs with other Alphabet and Google employees. Drummond denies this, despite having married Dixon.

“Other than Jennifer, I never started a relationship with anyone else who was working at Google or Alphabet," claims Drummond. "Any suggestion otherwise is simply untrue.”

Blakely said Drummond refused to discuss child support. She described his behavior towards her and their son as “nothing short of abuse.”

Alphabet has remained silent on the Drummond scandal and hasn't punished Drummond in any way. Drummond's pay from Alphabet, however, skyrocketed to $47 million in 2018 from $664,252 in 2017 and $664,387 in 2016.

The resurrected Drummond scandal isn't the only high-profile outrage engulfing Alphabet and Google over the past few years. Alphabet shareholders sued the board last January for covering-up sexual misconduct from executives, including Android Inc. co-founder Andy Rubin.

Google CEO Larry Page demanded Rubin resign after a sexual harassment claim by an employee against Rubin was found to be credible. The employee, with whom Rubin had an extramarital affair, accused him of forcing her into giving him oral sex in a hotel room in 2013.