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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday August 06 2020, @03:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the doing-time dept.

Ex-Googler Levandowski gets 18 months in prison for trade-secret theft:

Ex-Google engineer Anthony Levandowski yesterday was sentenced to 18 months in prison following his March guilty plea for stealing a confidential document related to Google's self-driving technology.

Levandowski's lawyers last week asked a judge in US District Court for the Northern District of California to let him off without any prison time, arguing that a year of home confinement, a fine, restitution, and community service would be sufficient punishment. The federal government asked for a 27-month prison sentence.

While handing down the 18-month sentence, US District Judge William Alsup said that a sentence without imprisonment would give "a green light to every future brilliant engineer to steal trade secrets," according to a Reuters report. Levandowski was originally charged with 33 counts of stealing trade secrets by downloading thousands of documents to his personal laptop in December 2015 shortly before he left Google to work on his startup, Otto, which was acquired by Uber for a reported $680 million in August 2016. In a plea deal, Levandowksi admitted to stealing one document called "Chauffeur TL weekly updates," which tracked the progress of Google's "Project Chauffeur" that later became Waymo. Prosecutors dropped the other charges.

Levandowski won't have to serve the sentence right away, as Alsup ruled that he can go to prison after the coronavirus pandemic subsides, according to Reuters and other news outlets.

Levandowski also must pay $756K to Waymo


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:04PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:04PM (#1032293)

    "Alsup ruled that he can go to prison after the coronavirus pandemic subsides"

    I don't have a problem with that.

    And who is Ellen Degeneres? I almost feel I should be getting outraged.

  • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:16PM (#1032301)

    Ellen DeGenerate [vogue.com]

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:21PM (2 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:21PM (#1032306) Journal

    Ellen Degeneres was one of the two hosts of (now discontinued) The Universe of Energy ride at Disney's Epcot Center, at Walt Disney World, Orlando FL.

    She is famous for some reason. She is a lesbian and activist for LGBT rights. She has some sort of TV show.

    That's all I know. I think it is all that I need to know.

    The ride described above is the most video I've ever seen of her. She does a good job along with Bill Nye.

    Hope that helps.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @04:35PM (#1032321)

      Thank you, yes I do feel a little outraged now. Much better.

    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Thursday August 06 2020, @06:06PM

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Thursday August 06 2020, @06:06PM (#1032371) Journal
      Firing people for taking time off for family funerals, etc doesn't go so well with her "be kind" campaign . and more [theguardian.com]

      and more [theguardian.com]

      The cracks started to show with reports of her treatment of guests like shit when the lights and cameras are off - like telling guests they can't use the nearest washroom on the set because it's reserved for the Jonas Brothers; followed with hiring non-union workers to do her show from her mansion and leaving all the people who have worked with her for 17 years high and dry (contrast that to Jimmy Kimmel paying his staff from his own pocket at the start of the pandemic); and her claims she had no idea what was going on. Either she's lying or is even more self-absorbed than insiders say she is.

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