CEO famed for higher pay advocacy exits after sexual assault allegations

New York (CNN Business) Dan Price was the poster child for resisting corporate greed, making headlines in 2015 for setting a minimum $70,000 salary for all employees at the payments company he led — saying he cut his own salary as CEO by 90% to achieve it.

On Wednesday, amid allegations of misconduct and sexual assault including several criminal charges, he resigned from the company he founded in college.

Price's exit from Gravity Payments comes with the publication of a bombshell New York Times report that alleged Price used his ​​social media platforms to create a reputation as an advocate for higher pay ​in an effort to mask "a pattern of abuse in his personal life and hostile behavior at his company."

A 27-year-old model and artist told the Times she and Price had a three-month romance in early 2021 that ended, she alleged, when Price raped her. Price, 38, has denied the allegations, while police in Palm Springs, Calif., told the Times that they had referred the case to local prosecutors, recommending a charge of rape of a drugged victim.

The Times detailed allegations of physical and sexual abuse spanning a decade from five other women, including four who spoke on the record. In a statement posted to his Twitter account Wednesday, Price said he was leaving Gravity Payments to "focus full-time on fighting false accusations made against me." Neither Price nor Gravity Payments responded to CNN Business' requests for comment.