Ashley Madison offers $11m settlement Published duration 17 July 2017

image copyright Reuters

The owner of the Ashley Madison infidelity website, which was hacked in July 2015, has offered a settlement to the people suing the company.

Millions of members had their personal details stolen when the site, which encouraged people to cheat on their partners, was breached.

Ruby Life has put forward $11.2m (£8.5m) to settle a number of class actions.

Some of the fund will be used to compensate those with a "valid claim".

Ashley Madison was a dating website for people who already had a partner but were looking to have an affair.

In July 2015, its systems were compromised and details of 33 million accounts were posted online.

The data included names, address, birth dates and sexual interests.

Ruby Life, the company behind the site, faces legal action from people who say the data breach led to financial loss and identity theft.

Ruby Life was known as Avid Dating Life at the time of the Ashley Madison data breach.

The rebranded company describes itself as an "industry leader in open-minded dating services" and still advertises Ashley Madison on its website.

"The parties have agreed to the proposed settlement in order to avoid the uncertainty, expense, and inconvenience associated with continued litigation," said Ruby Life in a statement.