Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O) Chief Executive Officer Larry Page didn’t get board approval when he awarded a US$150 million stock grant to Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android mobile software who was under investigation by the company for sexual harassment at the time, according to a lawsuit.

Page later got “rubber stamp” approval for the equity compensation package from a board leadership committee eight days after he granted it, according to a revised investor complaint made public on Monday in California state court in San Jose. Rubin eventually left the company with a US$90 million severance agreement.

The new allegations shed light on Page’s power to compensate top executives and could add fuel to criticism that the company’s board isn’t strong enough to keep management accountable to shareholders. It could also pull Page deeper into the controversy around how Google has handled sexual harassment complaints, though it’s not clear if he knew about the investigation when he gave Rubin the equity. The Alphabet co-founder has generally stayed behind the scenes, while Google CEO Sundar Pichai has been left to deal with criticism of the company’s culture.

Investors claim the board failed in its duties by allowing harassment to occur, approving big payouts and keeping the details private. The complaint targets the company’s top executives and committee members, including co-founder Sergey Brin, venture capitalist John Doerr, investor Ram Shriram and Alphabet Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, among others.

“It’s confirmation of the fact that there were these large payouts” to Google executives and that the company’s “own internal investigation had shown there was misconduct and harassment,” Louise Renne, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday by phone.

“Nonetheless, rather than being just being terminated, they were terminated with hefty reimbursement and gifts,” Renne said.

The US$90 million severance package was first detailed by the New York Times in October 2018, and sparked a firestorm of criticism from both inside and outside the company. Soon after, thousands of Google employees walked out to protest how the company handles sexual harassment complaints. Since then, Google has changed its policies, including ending the practice of barring employees from suing the company and shunting them into private arbitration. People fired for sexual harassment haven’t gotten severance payments in the past two years, Google has said.

“There are serious consequences for anyone who behaves inappropriately at Google,” a spokeswoman for Google said in an e-mailed statement. “In recent years, we’ve made many changes to our workplace and taken an increasingly hard line on inappropriate conduct by people in positions of authority.”

Google declined to comment further.

The sections of the lawsuit revealed Monday were initially redacted at the request of Google lawyers, but the company has since changed its position. Google declined to comment on why it reversed that decision.

The case is Martin v. Page, 19-cv-343672, California Superior Court, Santa Clara County (San Jose).