Uber sinks deeper into trade-secret theft allegations

A top Uber lawyer struggled to explain to a federal judge why the company reached a $7.5 million settlement with a former employee who accused it of stealing its rivals’ trade secrets, even though Uber considered the allegations a bogus attempt at blackmail.

The effort did little to clear up the latest dark cloud hanging over the ride-hailing service. Uber is struggling to defend itself in a high-profile lawsuit alleging that it has been building a fleet of self-driving cars with technology stolen from Waymo, a Google spinoff.

The trial in that case was set to begin next week, but US District Judge William Alsup postponed it until Feb. 5 after learning about a 37-page letter sent to Uber lawyer Angela Padilla by a former Uber security manager and his lawyer. The letter included accusations of intellectual thievery and other shady behavior that have reshaped the Waymo case.

Although the May 5 letter included allegations that Uber had stolen some of Waymo’s trade secrets, Padilla didn’t share it with any of the lawyers involved in the case. That has incensed Alsup, who maintains that the letter is a key piece of evidence, even though its allegations remain unproven.

“On the surface, it looked like you covered this up,” Alsup scold- ed Padilla. “For reasons that, to me, are somehow inexplicable.” Padilla testified in a Wednesday court hearing that she sent the letter to the US Justice Department in an attempt to deflate the “extortionist” claims of Richard Jacobs, who was Uber’s manager of global intelligence until seven months ago. Jacobs’ allegations are now part of a Justice Department investigation into whether Uber has been breaking US laws as it emerged as the world’s leading ride-hailing service.

Despite Uber’s belief that Jacobs simply was making up a story in an attempt to milk the company, it paid $4.5 million to Jacobs. /