Lawrence Jones has stepped down as CEO of cloud computing firm UKFast.
A Financial Times investigation published last week accused Jones of sexual assault and workplace misconduct and claimed to have interviewed more than 30 former employees at UKFast.
A statement from the Manchester-based company read: 鈥淯KFast confirms that Lawrence Jones has stepped down as CEO and is taking a leave of absence.
鈥淭he company acknowledges the serious allegations recently made in a national newspaper and is conducting an internal investigation.鈥�
His wife and co-founder Gail Jones, who is the joint managing director of UKFast, will take over the CEO role for now.
Lawrence Jones, 51, said in a separate statement that he would 鈥渢ake a leave of absence鈥� and vowed to clear his name of the 鈥渇alse and malicious鈥� allegations.
鈥淎 number of false and malicious allegations have been made against me and I am absolutely determined to ensure that they are fully investigated so that my name can be cleared,鈥� he stated.
鈥淭he interests of the employees, clients and investors in the business are paramount and much more important than any one individual.
鈥淚n the meantime, I am confident that the business will continue to grow and prosper.鈥�
Lawrence and Gail Jones each own 30.9 per cent of UKFast while 31.6 per cent is owned by Inflexion Private Equity.