The former nanny for Anthony Levandowski, the fired Uber engineer at the center of a trade secrets lawsuit, said he talked about 'fleeing to Canada' to avoid potential prison time
- A new lawsuit filed against Anthony Levandowski alleges that the former Uber engineer discussed fleeing to Canada in order to avoid potential prison time.
- The suit, filed by Levandowski's former nanny Erika Wong, claims that Levandowski violated numerous employment laws, in a story first reported by Wired.
- Levandowski has been at the center of an explosive lawsuit between Uber and Waymo in which Alphabet-owned driverless car company Waymo claims that Uber stole trade secrets.
Anthony Levandowski, the former Uber engineer at the center of an explosive lawsuit involving Waymo trade secrets, may have had plans to flee to Canada to avoid potential prison time, according to a new lawsuit filed against him by his former nanny, Erika Wong.
The 81-page suit claims that Levandowski was in breach of numerous employment laws, including failure to pay wages and inflicting emotional distress, Wired's Mark Harris reports.
Levandowski has been at the center of an ongoing legal battle between Uber and Waymo since February, when Alphabet-owned Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber claiming that Levandowski - a former Google engineer who had joined Uber - downloaded 14,000 files before leaving the company to build Uber's self-driving truck program, Otto. Levandowski's refusal to comply with Uber in its legal battle against Waymo led to his termination from the company in May.
Wong's lawsuit alleges that Levandowski spoke with former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick regarding the allegations in the Uber vs. Waymo suit and considered crossing state lines into Canada in order to avoid prosecution, Wired reports. The suit describes an alleged phone conversation that may have taken place on April 27, 2017 between Levandowski and his brother, in which Levandowski said that he was considering driving up to Alberta, Canada to avoid potential prosecution or prison time.
Wired's Mark Harris writes:
In her complaint, Wong alleges that Levandowski was paying a Tesla engineer for updates on its electric truck program, selling microchips abroad, and creating new startups using stolen trade secrets. Her complaint also describes Levandowski reacting to the arrival of the Waymo lawsuit against Uber, strategizing with then-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and discussing fleeing to Canada to escape prosecution.
A representative for Levandowski told Wired that Wong's claims were "work of fiction."
"On January 5, a frivolous lawsuit was filed against Anthony Levandowski in US District Court," the statement said. "The allegations in the lawsuit are a work of fiction. Levandowski is confident that the lawsuit will be dismissed by the courts."
The initial hearing for Wong's case is scheduled for April 2018.
Read the full story over at Wired.