Former Google Self-Driving Engineer Levandowski Gets Trump Pardon In Last Night Clemency Spree

Anthony Levandowski, a self-driving technology pioneer convicted of stealing trade secrets, received a full pardon from the outgoing President Donald Trump on his last day in office.

What Happened: The White House in a statement described Levandowski as “an American entrepreneur who led Google’s efforts to create self-driving technology.”

Levandowski “has paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to advance the public good,” the Trump administration said.

Trump issued pardons to several others including allies Stephen Bannon, Elliott Broidy, Rick Renzi, Robert Hayes, and Randall “Duke” Cunningham.

Why It Matters: Levandowski was sentenced to 18 months in prison in August last year.

The engineer had agreed to a plea deal over 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets related to his move from Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) subsidiary Waymo to Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER).

Levandowski was not in custody but a judge said the engineer could enter custody once the pandemic had subsided, Reuters reported.

See Also: How The Markets Performed On The Last Day Of Trump's Presidency

Photo courtesy: Kaxelrod via Wikimedia

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