Google moonshot spinout SandboxAQ claims an ex-exec is attempting ‘extortion’

A erstwhile SandboxAQ enforcement filed a wrongful termination suit past period filled with specified scandalous allegations against the company’s famed CEO, Jack Hidary, that plaintiff himself redacted the astir salacious details. 

On Friday, the company’s lawyers filed a blistering response, calling the erstwhile worker a “serial liar” and stating his suit “asserts mendacious claims for improper and extortionate purposes.”

Even the disposable portions of the suit — which TechCrunch has obtained — incorporate eyebrow-raising allegations, should a tribunal find them valid. (A copy of the suit is disposable here.)

The lawsuit offers a uncommon wrong look astatine however worker lawsuits tin go a nationalist airing of soiled laundry from different opaque interior happenings, acknowledgment to the ubiquitous backstage arbitration clauses successful Silicon Valley worker agreements.

The suit was filed by Robert Bender successful mid-December. Bender worked arsenic Chief of Staff to Hidary from August 2024 done July 2025, the ailment states. He contends successful his suit that helium was wrongfully terminated aft raising concerns astir a fig of alleged incidents, immoderate of which, helium said, progressive “sexual encounters” and others, helium claims, that progressive misleading fiscal accusation presented to investors. 

For its part, SandboxAQ vehemently denies the allegations. The company’s lawyer Orin Snyder, a well-known spouse astatine achromatic footwear instrumentality steadfast Gibson Dunn, tells TechCrunch: “This lawsuit is simply a implicit fabrication. We look guardant to debunking these baseless allegations and exposing the suit — arsenic elaborate successful our reply — for what it is — an opportunistic and extortionate maltreatment of the judicial process.”

What makes the lawsuit peculiarly notable is the fig of Valley dense hitters progressive successful SandboxAQ. The institution is an AI quantum computing startup that began arsenic a moonshot portion of Google genitor institution Alphabet, led astatine Google by Hidary. Hidary is besides well-known successful Silicon Valley arsenic a longtime X Prize committee member. 

SandboxAQ was spun retired of Alphabet into an autarkic institution successful March 2022 with Hidary arsenic CEO and soon attracted big-name investors, including billionaire and erstwhile Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who invested and became the startup’s chairman. Other billionaire investors see Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, task capitalist Jim Breyer, and Bridgewater hedge money laminitis Ray Dalio. 

Bender’s attorneys accidental successful another tribunal papers that the redacted sections “describe intersexual encounters and the carnal information of non-party individuals observed by Plaintiff during concern travel.” In different words, the alleged incidents impact radical who Bender is not suing. This is an antithetic determination — typically, it’s the enactment being sued that requests redactions, not the idiosyncratic making the allegations.

Various explanations beryllium for specified a tactic, and TechCrunch couldn’t ascertain what the motivations are successful this case. Generally speaking, the possibilities scope from protecting guiltless 3rd parties who aren’t accused of wrongdoing, to a shakedown strategy — signaling that much damaging details could look if the defendants don’t connection an acceptable settlement.

The unredacted information of the suit provides a fewer much wide details of the allegations that were hidden: Bender is alleging that Hidary utilized institution resources and capitalist funds to “solicit, transport, and entertain pistillate companions.” In an attached grounds of a substance connection from Bender, helium mentions prostitutes. 

Bender further alleges successful his suit that Hidary sold tens of millions of dollars worthy of his banal astatine a premium terms based connected what Bender says were misleading figures presented to imaginable investors. He contends successful the suit that gross figures presented to the committee were 50% little than the figures shown successful presentations to prospective investors. 

SandboxAQ’s lawyers vigorously contention each of the above. “The Company did not marque fraudulent disclosures to investors regarding its tender connection oregon otherwise. The CEO did not misuse firm assets. Plaintiff invented these inflammatory allegations to manufacture statutory claims and to insulate himself from the consequences of his ain misconduct.”

Bender, for his part, alleges that the institution has been trying to smear him. His ailment asserts that helium brought his lawsuit, “only due to the fact that his termination was followed by a malicious scorched world run to destruct his reputation.”

While the validity of immoderate of these allegations is for a assemblage to decide, galore of his claims echo an investigative study connected SandboxAQ published by The Information successful July.  

Sources told The Information that Hidary was utilizing institution resources to alert women helium was dating connected firm jets, and that the company’s revenues were acold beneath its projections. Bender references The Information communicative successful his suit but denies helium was a root for it. SandboxAQ claims helium was a root and is lying astir his involvement. (A transcript of SandboxAQ’s afloat firm response, including much allegations astir the employee, tin beryllium found here.)

Despite immoderate controversies, big-name investors were anxious to put successful the institution past year. In April, SandboxAQ raised implicit $450 million successful a Series E backing circular from Ray Dalio, Horizon Kinetics, BNP Paribas, Google, and Nvidia. 

SandboxAQ besides announced a $90 cardinal secondary sale. SandboxAQ has raised $1 cardinal total, it says, and is valued astatine $5.75 billion, according to PitchBook estimates.