TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington has strongly denied a host of recent public allegations from an ex-girlfriend, former colleagues, and former friends that he has a history of violent behavior toward women. The string of claims began late last month with a Facebook post leveled by his ex-girlfriend, Jenn Allen, who wrote that Arrington had assaulted and threatened to kill her. Gawker followed up last week with a story reporting on claims from a former co-worker that Arrington was investigated by a former employer for assaulting a female colleague, as well as claims from that he threw an ex-girlfriend into a wall.

Now Arrington is pushing back, and friends have begun speaking up in his defense. In a statement on his blog, Arrington wrote that "all of the allegations are completely untrue." He says he's hired a law firm and contacted the police about the allegations.

His full statement reads:

There have been some extremely serious and criminal allegations against me over the last week. All of the allegations are completely untrue, and I've hired a law firm to represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.

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.

I've also asked my attorneys to contact appropriate law enforcement agencies about these false allegations. Given the gravity of the claims, I think it's important that the police be involved in this now.

Arrington's statement doesn't specify which claims he is disputing, nor does it name the crimes he believes have been perpetrated against him. But a longtime friend of Arrington's who has spoken to him since the allegations broke offered more details today that purport to call Allen's credibility into question.

Nik Cubrilovic, an entrepreneur and programmer, lived with Arrington at the time he was dating Allen. In an email to Gawker, Cubrilovic said that after speaking to Arrington he is "100 percent convinced now [Allen] is lying." He painted the picture of an obsessive ex-girlfriend whose only aim is "to destroy Arrington."

Cubrilovic wrote in an email:

The story is that Mike completely cut her off around the middle of last year and wouldn't respond to emails or calls or messages anymore (even before it would take 5-6 messages for him to finally respond, and he only would when he was between relationships) since he started a long-term relationship and had somebody move in with him. It took 8-9 months of unanswered emails and calls and messages for her to reach her breaking point and accuse him of hitting her.

On Facebook, another friend of Arrington's, Patrick Gallagher, who has said he has known Arrington since 1989, came to his defense. "I have never seen him physically threaten or harm anyone, woman or man and can't imagine him doing so." Gallagher also worked at RealNames, where Arrington was investigated over allegedly assaulting an ex-girlfriend. Gallagher claimed on Facebook that the woman in that case was also "obsessed with Mike."

Like Arrington, Allen has declined our repeated attempts to contact her. On Facebook her only acknowledgement of the story is a single blog post about her claim, posted without comment.

We have not been contacted by any attorneys representing Arrington.

Update: Jenn Allen has responded on Twitter: "You know everything I said and posted is truth and true."

[Image via Getty]