INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
As Axios first reported, Richard DeVaul, a director at the entity formerly known as Google X, has left the company
An incident involving DeVaul behaving inappropriately toward a Google interviewee was cited in a New York Times reportcentered on the
sexual misconduct of Andy Rubin last week
Google confirmed that DeVaul had resigned and will not receive an exit package.
The story recounts a 2013 incident during which DeVaul
brought up his own polyamory in an interview with Star Simpson, a female hardware engineer
DeVaul reportedly invited Simpson to Burning Man
When she attended, DeVaul asked her to remove her shirt so that he could give her a massage
Simpson was not hired at Google.
Google has faced wide criticism of its decision to give Rubin a $90 million exit package in spite of an
investigation finding the claims against him credible
Axios reports that DeVaul did not receive an exit package, consistent with Sundar Pichai recent claim that the company had fired 48
individuals for sexual harassment in the last two years without providing exit packages.
Earlier in 2018, DeVaul authored a Medium post
introspecting on his experience awakening to his own latent racism and misogyny.
&We can be better people and make a more just society when
we recognize this and are committed to the long-term solutions of continued personal introspection, thoughtful critique of systematic bias,
and working to create new and better systems,& DeVaul wrote
&I&m committed to working on this, and I hope you will join me.&
Google employees will walk out on Thursday to protest company handling of
