As Gearbox Software faces one new round of litigation, another finally gets settled. The studio’s CEO Randy Pitchford was recently exonerated as part of a settlement with its former lawyer Wade Callender. Both parties had previously filed lawsuits against each other late last year.
This whole round of litigation dates back to last November, when Gearbox filed a suit against Callender. Here, it claimed that not only did the latter misuse company funds, they also failed to fully pay back personal loans to the studio. In response to this, Callender filed a countersuit against Gearbox and its CEO Randy Pitchford, alleging that the latter pocketed $12 million secret bonus from Take-Two Interactive that was meant as an advance against royalties from Borderlands 2, on top of some serious misconduct.
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As reported by Business Insider, the suits finally came to a close today, with both parties reaching a settlement. As part of this Callender, Pitchford, and Gearbox released a joint statement announcing the settlement and the fact that Pitchford has been exonerated of the charges against him.
“Upon review of all the evidence in the case, it was of the opinion of counsel that the evidence exonerated Randy Pitchford from the allegations against him,” read the statement. “All misunderstandings between the parties have been corrected, and apologies were exchanged. Because the parties are mutually bound by confidentiality, no additional statements will be forthcoming.”
Callender, then a longtime friend of Pitchford, originally joined Gearbox in 2010. He served as general counsel as well as the vice president of legal affairs at the studio until August of 2018. As part of his suit against Pitchford, Callender claimed that the former hosted parties at his home where adult men exposed themselves to minors. In addition to this, he also claimed that Pitchford left a USB drive with both confidential company materials, as well as pornographic material, with a young model at a restaurant.
For his part, Pitchford did admit to leaving a drive with a model. Meanwhile, he also admitted that he and his wife did regularly host a private “Peacock Theater” in their home that featured a number of variety acts and magicians. However, he claimed that the content of these parties was not sexually explicit.
