According to The Verge and other publications, Andy Rubin has taken a leave of absence from his company, Essential. The news followed hours after The Information broke a story that Rubin was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate while he led the Android team at Google.

The Information's story is light on details, but I'll present the facts and timeline, such as they are.

According to TI's story, Rubin was the subject of a complaint to Google's Human Resources division regarding an inappropriate relationship. The complaint was filed by the person whom Rubin was in the relationship with. At the time of the complaint - which is unknown - Rubin was the head of Android, the same division the complainant worked in. Google, like many companies, does not allow relationships between supervisors and subordinates.

After an internal investigation of unknown duration, it was concluded that Rubin's relationship with the complainant was inappropriate. The investigation apparently took some time to complete, as by that point in 2014 Rubin was in charge of Google's robotics efforts, having stepped down from the Android team in early 2013. Rubin left the company shortly after the investigation ended.

A spokesperson for Andy Rubin provided the following statement to The Information, which denies a connection between Rubin's departure from Google and the investigation.

Any relationship that Mr. Rubin had while at Google was consensual... Mr. Rubin was never told by Google that he engaged in any misconduct while at Google and he did not, either while at Google or since.

Rubin's spokesperson did not explicitly deny a connection between the leave of absence and The Information's story. In fact, TI informed Rubin's spokesperson some time ago the story would be published, which seems to have precipitated the internal announcement regarding his leave of absence.

We'll update this story if anything else comes to light.

UPDATE: 2017/12/10 6:52pm PST BY

Recode reports that Andy Rubin has returned to working at Essential. No other details are known at this time.

Source: The Information, The Verge