Michael Arrington has finally issued a response to the abuse allegations that have been leveled against him. The accusations started with Jenn Allen, a former girlfriend who posted on her Facebook that Arrington physically and mentally abused her. Gawker later uncovered more tales of abuse, including Arrington’s former employer investigating him for allegedly violently throwing a female coworker onto a bed and holding her down.

Arrington, breaking his silence on the issue, wrote on his site that “All of the allegations are completely untrue” and that he had hired a legal team to ”represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.” He continued:

I know this isn’t, for now, much information. I will have a full and complete response to these allegations sometime later this week. My goal will be to direct as much sunlight as possible on the issues so that the absolute truth can be known and I can begin to put my life back together.

Jenn Allen, the ex-girlfriend of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, has accused him of mentally and physically abusing her. In a rambling Facebook post, Allen laid out her claim:

It hurts when you love someone borderline and they can’t feel anything at all for you, and threaten to murder you if you told anyone about the physical abuse – all for keeping his reputation. The emotional abuse was equally bad. On a positive note, it can’t get any worse than this and I can’t get myself of this bed.

In the update, Allen says that she dated Arrington for eight years, but Gawker suggested that might not be true.

Arrington — currently a columnist for AOL-owned TechCrunch — hasn’t commented on Allen’s very serious words, but we’re sure he will. We’ll update when any more details emerge.

According to PandoDaily — who cites two sources — AOL is putting its tech sites Engadget and TechCrunch up for sale. The sites would have to be purchased together, and the asking price is a ridiculous $70 to $100 million. For now there are no serious bidders, but Pando says there has been interest.

And because any story involving TechCrunch wouldn’t be complete without a quote from its founder, Michael Arrington, he told PandoDaily the following:

I don’t know anything. No one tells me anything. I am not in the least bit interested [in buying back TechCrunch]. I was Team Pando all the way until Sarah Lacy fired me. That does not change my position on TechCrunch.

Serious question: If Arrington didn’t have drama in his life, would he be able to function?

According to AOL’s Spokesperson Mario Ruiz, Michael Arrington, the founder of Techcrunch, is “not employed by AOL” anymore. Business Insider reports that this is just the latest news in an odd relationship between AOL and Arrington, which began last year when AOL bought the tech site:

Initially, reports suggested Arrington would remain at TechCrunch and AOL with only a title change – from ‘editor’ to ‘founding editor and writer.’

Then, last night AOL told us it was actively looking for Arrington’s replacement.

Then this morning, Arianna Huffington told us Arrington no longer worked for TechCrunch at all – that Arrington will merely be welcome to contribute unpaid blogs to the company, as long as he stays within AOL’s blogging guidelines.

UPDATE:
Now AOL’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Maureen Sullivan, says Arrington is not out. ”Michael Arrington is still employed by AOL,” she told BI. She says that he is working for AOL Ventures. Tight ship they’re running over at AOL.

Yesterday, TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington widely announced via blog post that he is returning to startup investing in many of the companies TechCrunch is known to cover. As he states himself, “there will be financial conflicts of interests in a lot of my stories.”

And he is not at all sorry about it! “I think that this will all be fine,” he writes, with a remarkable amount of confidence, as long as he promises to disclose his conflicts as he writes about them.

Business Insider asked AOL if it is corporate policy that journalists are allowed to invest in the companies and industries they write about. The answer: No, they are not allowed to do that, unless they are named Michael Arrington. From AOL’s statement:

Michael Arrington operates from a unique position.  He was an investor in technology companies and start-ups before he started TechCrunch, and his extensive knowledge of, and involvement with Silicon Valley is one of the very things that has made TechCrunch a must-read site.

Is this whole ethical overhaul making you feel a little uncomfortable? This is what Arrington said about his potential detractors: “Other tech press will make hay out of this because they don’t like the fact that we are, simply, a lot better than them.”

Ouch! We bet none of his inferior competitors would dare criticize him now!

Well, not quite. Not everyone thinks this new order “will all be fine.” Tom Foremski writes for ZDnet.com:

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