Former Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski is again being accused of stealing trade secrets, this time against Tesla. A fresh accusation is being thrown at Levandowski, this time through different source.
The new source of the accusations is Erika Wong — Levandowski's former nanny who is suing him for breaking California labor laws.
Stealing From Tesla
Levandowski was previously accused of stealing trade secrets with about 14,000 documents from Waymo to use at Uber.
In the new lawsuit, Wong details Levandowski's reaction when Waymo filed its lawsuit against Uber. During the process of being sued by Waymo, former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick visited Levandowski bringing hardware and legal documents for the former employee to sign.
The biggest revelation in the court papers filed by Wong shows that Levandowski was paying a Tesla employee named Pat Green for information. Green provided Levandowski updates on Tesla's self-driving truck technology.
The complaint also shows that Levandowski was selling microchips abroad and was setting up new startups with stolen trade secrets. Wong also described that Levandowski thought about running away to Canada to avoid prosecution and even going as far as saying that he will not go to prison. It is also alleged that Levandowski had a hand in the creation of other self-driving car companies such as Argo AI and JingChi Corporation.
Levandowski's spokesperson was dismissive about the lawsuit.
"On January 5, a frivolous lawsuit was filed against Anthony Levandowski in US District Court. The allegations in the lawsuit are a work of fiction. Levandowski is confident that the lawsuit will be dismissed by the courts."
Wong is seeking $6 million in damages.
Levandowski's Other Problems
Levandowski was the former head of Uber's self-driving car unit. He started the self-driving car company after leaving Google, and that company was bought by Uber in 2016 for almost $700 million.
Levandowski allegedly told Uber that he took the files from Google in order to ensure that he was paid his bonus by the company. A judge didn't allow Uber to introduce this into evidence because Uber's general counsel was present when Levandowski admitted this.
Levandowski previously invoked fifth amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination. A judge later ruled that while Levandowski can invoke fifth amendment right, he can't stop Uber from turning over documents that might incriminate him.
