The CEO of Riot Games, Nicolo Laurent, has been cleared of sexual harassment allegations by a special committee who oversaw the investigation into his conduct, the company announced today.
The investigation was prompted by allegations of sexual harassment by former executive assistant Sharon O’Donnell during her tenure. One month later, Laurent has been cleared and will not face disciplinary measures.
“The Special Committee of our Board of Directors has concluded that after review of the results of the investigation, and based on everything they know today, there is no evidence that Nicolo harassed, discriminated, or retaliated against Ms. O’Donnell,” the statement reads.
Laurent denied the allegations against him with an internal message to all Rioters. “The allegations of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation involving me are not true. Nothing of that nature, or even remotely close to it, ever happened,” he said.
The company has said it was made aware of the “power dynamics” that could lead to “biases” within the workplace.
The committee said that it assessed the relationship between Laurent and O’Donnell and whether there were any inappropriate actions that took place. The “pattern of interactions” were also assessed.
Riot stressed that the committee acted independently of management that could interfere or tamper with the results of the investigation.
“The Special Committee is a separate committee of the Board and consists only of the directors who are not Riot co-founders,” the statement said. “It decides matters without participation or interference from the company co-founders and executive management, and makes independent recommendations to the Board.”
This news about Riot’s CEO comes just one day after Dot Esports reported that Alienware had terminated their global sponsorship of League of Legends. This story will be updated as more news becomes available.
