The Jewish CEO of a website that facilitates extramarital affairs stepped down on Friday.
“Effective today, Noel Biderman, in mutual agreement with the company, is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer of Avid Life Media Inc. (ALM) and is no longer with the company,” reads a statement from ALM.
Senior management will lead the company until a new CEO is appointed.
Biderman founded the adultery facilitating website AshleyMadison.com in 2002. He was named President and CEO of ALM when AshleyMadison.com was acquired in 2007, according to Biderman’s company bio.
Biderman’s step away from the company comes after the email addresses of more than 30 million ALM members were revealed in a hack. Thus far, five lawsuits — four in the United States and one in Canada — have been filed, according to Wired.com. The Canadian class action lawsuit, which names widower Eliot Shore as the lead plaintiff, seeks $578 million in damages. The class-action status is still pending certification by the Ontario court.
According to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, both Biderman and his wife are Jewish. He is the grandson of Holocaust survivors and, at the time of the interview, he indicated that his two children are being raised as Jews.
