Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt is expected to make billions from Anthropic’s flotation, which is due next week. But his former partner, Michelle Ritter, 32, claims Schmidt, 71, promised her 5% of his stake in the company in return for her contribution to the deal, the New York Post reported.

Anthropic is going public at a valuation of about $1.5 trillion, putting the paper value of Schmidt’s holding at roughly $15 billion. Emails show that Ritter was involved in discussions with the company’s founders, but do not contain the promise itself.

Sources allege that Schmidt sidelined Ritter after they split. Ritter is now pursuing legal action against him. In a federal lawsuit, she listed her work “related to Anthropic” among several projects for which she claims she was not paid. The New York Post noted that Schmidt is married to Wendy and that they have an open relationship.

According to a source who spoke to the Post, Ritter says the former Google chief executive repeatedly reassured her that he would make sure she received her share of the deal. “She trusted him. Now she just wants to get paid,” the source said. Another source, who is close to Ritter, claims to have personally heard Schmidt promise her a share of his Anthropic stock.

Emails obtained by the Post show that Ritter took part in early discussions with Anthropic’s founders. In December 2020, Schmidt proposed setting up a temporary company with a $1 million budget to pay Anthropic’s seven founders and cover their computing and cloud costs. He asked Ritter and Amanda Rubin of Hillspire, his family office, to help arrange the structure. On 11 December, Rubin wrote to Ritter, thanking her for “setting out the key issues in the deal”.

A month later, Ritter began corresponding directly with Anthropic co-founder Daniela Amodei. “As Eric said, I’m handling the fundraising,” Ritter wrote to Daniela on 7 January 2021. That month, Daniela asked Ritter to discuss “the next steps regarding incorporation and the initial investment”. Ritter asked how the seven founders would divide the shares among themselves and what they thought the company was worth before investors came in.

The following day, Dario Amodei, Daniela’s brother, fellow co-founder and Anthropic’s chief executive, suggested speaking directly to Schmidt. According to the emails, Ritter replied that Schmidt was looking forward to the conversation.

In May 2021, Schmidt was among the investors in Anthropic’s $124 million Series A round, the company’s first major fundraising round. He reportedly invested tens of millions of dollars.

“Michelle was the primary driving force behind the investment in Anthropic,” wrote Eliyahu Reinhardt, an entrepreneur at Steel Perlot, the technology incubator founded by Schmidt and Ritter, in a signed declaration submitted in support of Ritter’s claims in her lawsuit against Schmidt.

Schmidt and Ritter split in 2024, after Schmidt was seen with another woman. A year later, Ritter filed court documents accusing Schmidt of rape and of spying on her through hidden cameras. Those allegations were subsequently found to be false, and an arbitrator ordered her to pay Schmidt $12 million in damages.

According to Law360, a California judge ruled last September that Ritter had ignored the arbitrator’s orders in the case. The judge said she had “refused to respond to discovery requests, produce documents or appear for a deposition, and missed several hearings”. The judge declined to set aside the arbitration award.

Ritter said in response: “Anthropic is one of many deals in which Eric and his family office have unlawfully denied me the shares I am contractually entitled to. Eric and his family office need to stop hiding behind a personal break-up as an excuse not to pay for work. Like others, Eric and his team think they are above the law.”