That is all true, but if you suffer from mental breakdowns, in his mind he probably already feel like the worst has happen
A good friend of mine [that is no longer a friend at all, sadly] went through a mental breakdown. He absolutely lost it - went into work one day, screamed at everyone and quit [they, by his own account, did nothing... he was just 'done']. He told everyone he knew off for one reason or another, got some godawful ink [and I love tattoos], got into heavy drugs/drink and [very] loose sex. Like, it's weird typing this because it sounds so judgemental and odd if you don't know that I don't give a hoot about sex, [most] drugs, ink... but he was purely the definition of intentionally 'self-destructive' - it felt like suicide by f'ing up on purpose. Our group of friends had two interventions and then he just cut us off. I got a phone call about a year later from him apologizing... where, after the 'apology', he went on to basically blame everyone but himself.
I'm not really sure where I'm going here... but just kind of saying, if he -did- have a mental breakdown... like the legit, true, 'mental breakdown' I've seen in real life, then I have trust issues with anything he says. This does not mean he's lying, and of course, it's also possible the issue -caused- the mental breakdown... but it's also possible he had a breakdown for other reasons and just wants to see the world burn. I've seen it with my own eyes.
Given the nature of the allegations, it's hardly surprising there is no evidence recorded. He was apparently fired 24 hours after making his complaint and offered money to stay silent.
Impossible for an outside to say what did or didn't happen, but I wouldn't be reassured by Naugty Dog's statement in any way.
What you [and many others] are missing here is that pretty much -everyone- who leaves a position like that is offered a severance package which includes various clauses like this. It's standard operating procedure. So while he claims they did it to shut him up, that's just a twisted interpretation... no, they offered him severance after he was let go, which is standard. It does not prove his point in any way, shape, or form. It's not 'hush money' when many leaving a big company get it. He's twisting a standard policy, calling it hush money, and many people here are repeating it, not understanding that he'd have gotten that same $20k severance package no matter what the situation is. It is a red herring in this case, because it provides no evidence one way or the other.
Indeed I do, I am a lawyer. Covering up incidents like this through not reporting them or tampering with documents is not rare at all.
Then you also likely know that severance packages also come with nice long contracts to sign that include various clauses including stuff like non-disparage, agreeing to never sue for any reason regarding employment, sometimes an NDA about what you worked on, why you were let go, etc.
Since you're clearly on team 'they're hiding something', can you please at least be forthright and let everyone know how referring to what is likely a standard severance package as hush money is twisting facts to a biased interpretation?
For example, this post [among many]:
Yeah didn't he say they gave him $20k? Pretty hard to hide that on the books, something's not adding up. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it sounds like there was no hush money at least
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EDIT: To be clear, I think the most likely scenario is that he experienced harassment, told no one about it, then suffered a mental breakdown due to stress [and harassment], then did something at work due to breakdown that got him fired. He then, at some point, told someone about the harassment but due to the previous breakdown and already being let go the accusation was problematic. There was never an actual, formal complaint made. Normal company policy took over, and he was offered a standard severance package, which he didn't understand and considered hush money [or, is intentionally repositioning it now as hush money to make his case sound better]. I think there is also a slight possibility he is angry about being let go and is lashing back - knowing the time is right due to current events and that a settlement is possible even if he's lying. I think the first option is more likely, but we have zero evidence at this point so no 'official' opinion.