Live data from Hacker News

Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

nytimes.com

161–170 of 372 posts

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps he's innocent?

> Perhaps he's innocent? Perhaps. However, one of the ways prosecutor maintain a 95%+ conviction rate is to only pursue cases they are extremely confident they could win in court. And sure, just because someone loses in court or pleas out doesn't mean they are actually guilty, but it's the best system we have.

In particular, to bring a white collar case against an extremely wealthy defendant, they must feel they have a pretty good case.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#162
post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

[deleted]

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#163
post #107
post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

It's weird walking away from 120 million but I think I might get what he was thinking. He was probably over confident with the tech, and thought it was close to roll out. He was also probably thinking the tech was worth billions. I bet Anthony felt he built the tech himself and he owned it. He probably wanted and felt like he deserved a bigger piece of the multi billon dollar self driving pie than just 120 million.

Imagine not being satisfied with 120 million dollars. Unreal to think about, but greed is never satisfied.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#164
post #107
post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

It's weird walking away from 120 million but I think I might get what he was thinking. He was probably over confident with the tech, and thought it was close to roll out. He was also probably thinking the tech was worth billions. I bet Anthony felt he built the tech himself and he owned it. He probably wanted and felt like he deserved a bigger piece of the multi billon dollar self driving pie than just 120 million.

If he thought it was close to roll-out and worth billions, he's more a lucky manager than an actual engineer. Which makes his criminality far more understandable.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#165
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If he stopped taking shortcuts he'd probably be the next Jobs or Musk. Didn't these ended up where they are by taking all kinds of shortcuts?

What shortcuts did they take? Maybe the key is knowing which shortcuts.

A pretty big one was the options backdating scandal at Apple: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/10/06/steve-jo...

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#166
post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

How does anyone get such a huge bonus?

Google has special compensation structure for some startup-like projects designed to keep talent in the company instead of leaving and building their own company. After they hit (or were thought to hit) all milestones, self-driving unit was valued at 8B by independent assessment. As one of the leaders, Lewandowki’s share was 120M.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#167
post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

I like the story of describing pays by 'Levadownskis'.

I believe bad things happen when someone gets really greedy and tries to find ways around basic rules.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#168
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The max fine of $8m is tiny compared to what he made.

They are likely to claw back all of that money, if it's determined to be illegitimate as part of this case.

A large part of what he made was paid before he went to Otto/Uber. He will be financially very well off for the rest of his life, unless he does stupid shit with the money.

. . .

On second thought... https://www.wired.com/story/anthony-levandowski-artificial-i...

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#169
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird walking away from 120 million but I think I might get what he was thinking. He was probably over confident with the tech, and thought it was close to roll out. He was also probably thinking the tech was worth billions. I bet Anthony felt he built the tech himself and he owned it. He probably wanted and felt like he deserved a bigger piece of the multi billon dollar self driving pie than just 120 million.

If he thought it was close to roll-out and worth billions, he's more a lucky manager than an actual engineer. Which makes his criminality far more understandable.

I have no love for the guy, but by all accounts he invented a lot of the core tech he stole.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#170

He's already off the Pronto.AI about page, his current startup where he was the CEO until this news: (mentioned towards the end of the NYT article) https://pronto.ai/about/ https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:I7ifOu...

They do mention it on the homepage and link to this though: https://pronto.ai/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Pronto-Statemen...
Post reply on HN