"Former Google executive Anthony Levandowski, whose move to Uber prompted a bitter multimillion-dollar lawsuit more than two years ago, was charged Tuesday by federal officials for his alleged theft of self-driving car trade secrets. The U.S. attorney’s office indicted Levandowski in federal court in San Jose over claims he stole or attempted to steal confidential files from Google subsidiary Waymo that helped him form an autonomous big-rig company he later sold to Uber for about $680 million. The 33 charges against Levandowski carry a maximum penalty of 10 years and $250,000 each, according to a person familiar with the matter." https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/27/former-google-self-driving-engineer-who-prompted-lawsuit-against-uber-gets-hit-with-criminal-charges
Does anyone know what exactly Levandowski copied / took from Google ? It is a curious case - because Levandowski started AV companies while working in Google - and then brought them in (got money for that ?). When he left, I guess, he took what he brought in … and probably in his mind he was just taking back "what belonged to him".
So, basically - in his mind Lidar was "his baby" - so he could take it. Even though a lot of it was developed by Google engineers that Google paid salary for. Its also possible he brought in some knowhow from his companies and experience into Google that Google never explicitly paid for.
Here is a good article. It was a pretty complicated relationship. He downloaded 14,000 files just weeks before he extended his resignation. How Anthony Levandowski Put Himself at the Center of an Industry
Trump pardons Anthony Levandowski, the engineer sentenced to prison for stealing trade secrets from Google
Hmm... I wonder which item he got from Rudy's pardon menu: the "$500k I'll see what I can do and if you get get the pardon another $500k" or if he - like the rich guy he is - just went for the "$2 million up front and I'll get Trump to pardon you right away"?