A federal judge has rejected a government
recommendation that he impose a $10 million
bail bond on a former Google engineer who is
accused of stealing self-driving car technology
before joining Uber’s effort to build robotic taxis.
The preliminary ruling issued Wednesday by
U.S. District Judge Nathanael Cousins means
Anthony Levandowski remains free on the $2
million bail he posted last week after being
charged with heisting Google’s trade secrets
before defecting to Uber in 2016.
Google affiliate Waymo is trying to create a fleet
of fully autonomous taxis to compete against
Uber and Lyft, which are both losing huge
amounts of money partly because their ride-
hailing services pay people to steer the vehicles.
The government says it believes the wealth
Levandowski accumulated as a former star
Google engineer, as well as his dual French
citizenship, make him an extreme risk to flee
the U.S. before trial. Documents submitted to
Cousins pegged his net worth at $72 million.
Some of that money may be left over from
a self-driving car startup called Otto that
Levandowski launched even before leaving
Google and eventually sold to Uber for $680
million. Levandowski then took over leadership
of Uber’s self-driving car division, only to be fired
in 2017 after Waymo filed a lawsuit accusing him
of stealing key technology before he left Google.
Before the lawsuit was filed, Google paid
Levandowski a $120 million bonus. He ended up
keeping about $52 million of that after paying
taxes and other money owed to his former
wife, said Ismail Ramsey, one of Levandowski’s
attorneys, during Wednesday’s hearing.
c. jardin
(C. Jardin)
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