Prosecutors are reportedly seeking to imprison the former head of Uber’s self-driving vehicle division over claims that he stole documents from Google before leaving the company for Uber.
Reuters reported that prosecutors want Anthony Levandowski to spend 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised released and a fine. Levandowski’s lawyers have asked for his potential prison sentence to be reconsidered.
“It is, unfortunately, no exaggeration to say that a prison sentence today can amount to the imposition of a serious health crisis, even a death sentence, given the BOP’s [Bureau of Prisons’] current inability to control the spread of the coronavirus,” they reportedly wrote in a court filing.
Levandowski is charged with using Google staff and documents illegally in his work developing self-driving vehicles at Uber, where the company is experimenting with the service for deliveries.
He filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year over legal fees related to the case.
The company announced earlier this year that it would offer a new host of services amid the coronavirus outbreak, including store-to-door delivery and same-day package deliveries.
Its top competitor, Lyft, announced layoffs affecting about 17 percent of its employees in April.