Former Head of Uber’s Autonomous Driving Files for Bankruptcy

Former head of Uber’s Technology Inc. (UBER) autonomous driving wing Anthony Levandowski has file for bankruptcy. This happened on Wednesday moments after San Francisco County court ruled that he must pay $179 million to Alphabet Inc.’s. (GOOGL) Google.

The payment is to serve as a settlement for his departure from Google’s self-driving program where he was the key engineer before he left.

In this case Google is also accusing Lewandowski of stealing its trading secrets.

According to the court ruling, Levandowski and his counterpart Lior Ron engaged in unfair competition and breached their legal obligations after they started a competitor company and on top of that they brought Google’s employees to their newly established company.

Following the ruling Levandoski filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy which will give him space to negotiate his debts. Citing information from his filing Levandowski has assets totaling to around $50 million to $100 million and his liabilities run to around $100 million to $500 million.

The company co-founded by Levandowski and Lior Ron was later acquired by Uber. However in the acquisition deal Uber secured itself from any legal liability placed upon the former Google’s employees. Nonetheless in its financial filing Uber is looking forward to challenge the decision against its former employee Levandowski.