Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges

Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Isaac, reporting for The New York Times:

An Uber executive accused of stealing driverless car technology from his former employers at Google is exercising his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, according to his lawyers.

The lawyers for Anthony Levandowski, the former head of Google’s self-driving car project who is now leading a similar effort at Uber, said he was broadly asserting his Fifth Amendment rights because there was “potential for criminal action” in the case, according to court transcripts obtained on Thursday.

Pleading the Fifth is not an admission of guilt, but it certainly doesn’t look good. And “potential for criminal action” is a new wrinkle.

★ Friday, 31 March 2017