WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had given a full pardon to a former Google engineer sentenced for stealing a trade secret on self-driving cars months before he briefly headed Uber’s rival unit.
Anthony Levandowski, 40, was sentenced in August to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in March. He was not in custody, but a federal judge had said he could enter custody once the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
The White House said Levandowski had “paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to advance the public good.”
Alphabet’s Waymo, a self-driving auto technology unit spun out of Google, declined to comment. The company previously described Levandowski’s crime as “a betrayal” and his sentence “a win for trade secret laws.”
The pardon was backed by several leaders in the technology industry who have supported Trump, including investors Peter Thiel and Blake Masters and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, according to the White House.
Levandowski transferred more than 14,000 Google files, including development schedules and product designs, to his personal laptop before he left, and while negotiating a new role with Uber.
Levandowski filed for bankruptcy in March of last year to negotiate his debts, after a California state court confirming that Levandowski owes $179 million to Google for violating employment contracts.. When he took a plea deal, also in March, he agreed to pay nearly $756,500 in restitution to cover costs Alphabet bore assisting the government’s investigation, according to court papers.
Uber indemnifies its workers but has said it intended to challenge paying the big judgment on behalf of its ex-employee.
It was unclear what effect the Trump pardon might have on Levandowski’s financial obligations.