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Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

reuters.com

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Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#61

Post by Retric »

bosswipe wrote: post #9
foolfoolz wrote: post #2

great example of how white collar crime does not get punished. “no more than 30 months” for a theft implicated at multi-billion dollar values. that’s even less with good behavior credit

Two and half years is a hell of a lot of jail time. I seriously wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Someone getting 2 years for stealing 100+ million in gold seems unusually short. But, somehow that changes if what they stole fits on a flash drive.

It’s interesting that we accept electronic money as real, but IP always feels like a stretch.

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#62

Post by tyingq »

ehsankia wrote: post #11

Does he still owe any of the $179M to Google or does that go away? Is he still in bankrupcy?

He may well get out of paying the $179M.

"Uber indemnifies workers under its employment agreements. But Uber has said in financial filings that it expects to challenge paying the big judgment against Levandowski, who was fired from the company in 2017."

https://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-levandowski-files-ba...

Note that Uber paid out $9.7M to Google on behalf of Lior Ron, one of Levandowski's Otto employees. So they already established the pattern.

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#63

Post by autonoshitbox »

garrettgrimsley wrote: post #29
chishaku wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there sufficient public data to plot and find the true sweet spot?

I'm not sure about seeing a chart of existing cases and illicit proceeds, but what is available is the United States Sentencing Guidelines §2B1.1. [0] The value amounts increase exponentially, while the points, which correspond to length of sentence, increase linearly. So, like the other poster said, go big. Take the base offense level for the crime, add the points in the chart for the dollar amount, and then referen…

Just so we're clear who this commenter is:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/garrett-grimsley-north-carolina...

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#64

Post by tyingq »

seibelj wrote: post #14

After admitting his guilt and serving his time, would you refuse to work with him again? It seems like he was a brilliant guy who made a bad mistake. I don’t think he’s unemployable. Isn’t prison punishment enough? Time is the only irreplaceable resource we have.

I suspect his path back won't be to go work for someone else. Probably easier for him to get a modest investment to start a company. Investors are probably more willing to gamble than an employer...given the history.

I'd also be more willing to work for him, than have him work for me. Sounds weird, but it's easier to ensure I'm doing nothing illegal than checking that an employee of mine isn't.

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#65

Post by engineeringwoke »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #55
irjustin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue the opposite that this was extremely expensive for Uber. The legal nightmare which resulted a loss in 0.34% of equity and combined with having to throw away whatever they had[0] before as part of the deal with Google is not cheap at all. Anecdotally, I have engineering friends on the Uber self driving team and they talk about how they are just starting over again and how far behind they are as a result of i…

It's a gamble, though. Say you're Uber's CEO, Travis Kalanick, and you believe 3 things for sure: 1. Uber's completely doomed if self-driving cars show up and Uber doesn't own it, 2. Sexual harassment is a good idea, and 3. Uber's behind the top players in self-driving car research. Say you believe that there's a 25% chance that this Google guy can get you to the front of the self-driving car race, and there's a 50%…

Exactly. Cracked up at the harassment bit.

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#66

Post by jonstewart »

s3r3nity wrote: post #47

Curious to hear from those who have been following the details more closely: was there _any_ legal basis to Levandowski's claims? It's easy to write him off as an extremely greedy sociopath, but I wonder if he was walking along some precarious line or "loop-hole" that eventually too many attempts to cross bit him in the butt.

My company was retained by Uber to assist in the investigation and discovery during the Waymo lawsuit. While the case settled, there’s a great deal of public information from court filings, depositions, and testimony. One deposition that’s worth reading is the one by Google’s security staff. They log everything and it’s basically open and shut that he downloaded version control repos at the time of his resignation (after not having logged into his corporate computer for months). His personal guilt has never been in much doubt.

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#67

Post by gowld »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #55
irjustin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue the opposite that this was extremely expensive for Uber. The legal nightmare which resulted a loss in 0.34% of equity and combined with having to throw away whatever they had[0] before as part of the deal with Google is not cheap at all. Anecdotally, I have engineering friends on the Uber self driving team and they talk about how they are just starting over again and how far behind they are as a result of i…

It's a gamble, though. Say you're Uber's CEO, Travis Kalanick, and you believe 3 things for sure: 1. Uber's completely doomed if self-driving cars show up and Uber doesn't own it, 2. Sexual harassment is a good idea, and 3. Uber's behind the top players in self-driving car research. Say you believe that there's a 25% chance that this Google guy can get you to the front of the self-driving car race, and there's a 50%…

> 25% chance that this Google guy can get you to the front of the self-driving car race

This is the absurd assumption

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#68

Post by gowld »

sytelus wrote: post #48
foolfoolz wrote: post #2

great example of how white collar crime does not get punished. “no more than 30 months” for a theft implicated at multi-billion dollar values. that’s even less with good behavior credit

I'm against this barbaric tradition of putting people in cages for whatever XYZ crimes. I think the isolation of the rest of the society from the criminals is essential but should be done in a much more humane way. For instance, prisons should be a place to learn and develop one's mind with libraries, documentaries, education and tools of creation but still making sure the person cannot contact the rest of the societ…

Ok but lets start by freeing the poor descendants of slaves before we rush to worry about spoiled elites.

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#69

Post by gowld »

autonoshitbox wrote: post #63
garrettgrimsley wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about seeing a chart of existing cases and illicit proceeds, but what is available is the United States Sentencing Guidelines §2B1.1. [0] The value amounts increase exponentially, while the points, which correspond to length of sentence, increase linearly. So, like the other poster said, go big. Take the base offense level for the crime, add the points in the chart for the dollar amount, and then referen…

Just so we're clear who this commenter is: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/garrett-grimsley-north-carolina...

Well, the username, maybe not the commenter. Cnat ask for a better authority in matters of escaping punishment for heinous crimes. Religion-based hate speech, terroristic threats and Conspiracy to commit religious-based terroristic mass murder got less punishment than stealing economic value from a top-10 richest organization in America.

Re: Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets

#70

Post by gowld »

agoodthrowaway wrote: post #23
seibelj wrote: post #14

After admitting his guilt and serving his time, would you refuse to work with him again? It seems like he was a brilliant guy who made a bad mistake. I don’t think he’s unemployable. Isn’t prison punishment enough? Time is the only irreplaceable resource we have.

Seriously? What exactly is brilliant about stealing designs? If he was so brilliant, he’d know what to do better or differently. He’d have been able to work around Google’s IP. That’s true brilliance. Not only is he a thief, by his own admission, but it probably wasn’t the first time he did this. The way he stole the designs he wasn’t worried about getting caught. This is not something someone does for the first time…

Not similar. Andy Rubin's behavior was lewd behavior that his bosses tolerated, not theft or any crime.
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