Dan Price, The CEO Who Cut His Pay To Give Staff $70K, Has Resigned Amid Rape Allegations

Dan Price, who became a viral sensation for slashing his CEO salary so he could pay employees at least $70,000, has resigned amid allegations of sexual assault and abuse involving women he met online.

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Price became a workplace legend and media celebrity in 2015, after he announced that he would give up most of his $1-million salary so he could give all 100-plus staffers at Gravity Payments a higher base salary.

But a New York Times investigation has identified more than a dozen women who accuse Price of "predatory" online behavior and sexual misconduct. California prosecutors have recommended a charge of rape of a drugged victim in one of those cases, the Times reports.

Price abruptly resigned from his job in a statement released on Wednesday, shortly before the Times investigation dropped. In the statement, he said he was stepping down in order to "focus full-time on fighting false accusations made against me."

Multiple women told the Times that Price used his social media fame to connect with them online and then arrange meetups. Several of them say he became sexually abusive with them, and there were multiple women who accused him of choking them.

Price told the Times that he has "never physically or sexually abused anyone."

These aren't the first allegations against Price.

His ex-wife accused him of physically abusing her in a buried TEDx talk from late 2015, which she delivered after he went viral. Price has denied her allegations.

Price also pleaded not guilty earlier this year to misdemeanour charges of assault and reckless driving involving a woman in Seattle.

After resigning, Price tweeted a financial rundown of his company and revealed that his workers' minimum wage is now $80,000. He also said that he's never laid off a single employee in 18 years.

"I'm proud of what I've done," he wrote with that tweet.