I don't think OP has any reason to side with Linus here, I think the thrust is just that there's only two pieces of evidence here, and both from people with opposite motives.
I'm more likely to believe Madison here, but I think there's a good chance she's overreacting too. It seems she was treated poorly, and that makes it easier to justify exaggeration.
I'm not particularly hopeful that an external investigation will really help here (after all, they're likely being paid by LMG), so I'm hopeful that some current or previous employees can corroborate at least some of the claims.
So I guess I'm kind of siding with the OP here, I'm going to reserve judgement until I have more evidence. If I had to pick today, I'd probably side with Madison because her motives to lie are weaker.