Editing Anthony Levandowski (section)

== Criminal conviction and pardon ==
On August 27, 2019, Levandowski was charged by the Department of Justice for the alleged theft of trade secrets from Google's self-driving unit Waymo. In months before he left Google, the charges alleged Levandowski downloaded thousands of files from Waymo's predecessor, Project Chauffeur. The data allegedly included "critical engineering information about the hardware used on Project Chauffeur self-driving vehicles," and that Levandowski transferred files onto his laptop before leaving the company. Following the indictment, Pronto, a new self-driving trucking company that Levandowski co-founded, announced that its Chief Safety Officer, Robbie Miller, would take over as CEO.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/27/ex-google-engineer-levandowski-charged-with-taking-trade-secrets-to-uber.html|title=Ex-Google engineer charged with taking self-driving car trade secrets; DOJ considers flight risk and asks for $2 million bond|last2=Zaveri|first1=Lauren|last1=Feiner|first2=Paayal|date=2019-08-27|website=CNBC|language=en|access-date=2019-08-29}}</ref>

On March 19, 2020, Levandowski agreed to plead guilty to one of the thirty-three charges initially brought against him by the Department of Justice. Originally charged with stealing documents containing trade secrets, technical specifications, and Lidar design, Levandowski's pleaded guilty to downloading an internal project tracking document called, "Chauffeur TL Weekly – Q4 2015"&mdash;a spreadsheet consisting of team goals, project metrics, and weekly status updates accessible by Levandowski's team on an unsecured Google Drive. Levandowski admitted to accessing the document about one month after leaving Google in February 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1255278/levandowski-cuts-plea-deal-to-end-google-ip-theft-charges|title=Levandowski Cuts Plea Deal To End Google IP Theft Charges|work=Law360|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/19/levandowski-guilty/|title=Ex-Uber executive Anthony Levandowski pleads guilty to trade-secret theft|last=Albergotti|first=Reed  |date=19 March 2020|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-autonomous-levandowski-idUSKBN21646I|title=Former Uber self-driving head Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets|date=2020-03-19|work=Reuters|access-date=2020-03-20|language=en}}</ref>

On August 4, 2020, Levandowski formally pleaded guilty to one count of trade secret theft, and Judge William Alsup sentenced him to 18 months in prison.  Prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining 32 charges as a part of the plea agreement.<ref name=":8">[https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/former-uber-executive-sentenced-18-months-jail-trade-secret-theft-google Former Uber Executive Sentenced To 18 Months In Jail For Trade Secret Theft From Google] (press release), Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California (August 4, 2020).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Sara O'Brien|title=Former Uber self-driving car exec sentenced to 18 months in prison|date=August 5, 2020|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/tech/anthony-levandowski-google-uber-sentencing/index.html|access-date=2020-08-05|publisher=CNN Business}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/former-google-engineer-levandowski-to-plead-guilty-to-theft|title=Former Google Engineer Levandowski to Plead Guilty to Theft|date=2020-03-19|work=Bloomberg News|access-date=2020-03-23|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/former-google-self-driving-engineer-pleads-guilty-trade-secrets-theft-n1164491|title=Ex-Google self-driving engineer pleads guilty to trade secrets theft|website=[[NBC News]]|date=March 20, 2020 }}</ref><ref name=":7"/> During the sentencing, Alsup said, "this is the biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen.  This was not small.  This was massive in scale."<ref name=":8" /> He also described Levandowski as a "brilliant, groundbreaking engineer that our country needs. We need those people with vision. I'm going to give him that."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Information|first=Amir Efrati|title=Briefing: Ex-Google Engineer Levandowski Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison|url=https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/d428a2|access-date=2020-08-05|website=The Information|date=August 4, 2020 }}</ref> In addition to time served, Levandowski was ordered to pay $756,499.22 in restitution to Waymo&nbsp;and a fine of $95,000.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|title=Anthony Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison, as new $4B lawsuit against Uber is filed|url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/04/anthony-levandowski-sentenced-to-18-months-in-prison-as-new-4b-lawsuit-against-uber-is-filed/|access-date=2020-08-05|website=TechCrunch|date=August 4, 2020 |language=en-US}}</ref>

On January 20, 2021, his last day of his first term, President [[Donald Trump]] granted a full pardon to Levandowski.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anthony Levandowski, an engineer who stole trade secrets, receives a Trump pardon.|author=Adam Satariano|newspaper=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/20/business/us-economy-coronavirus/anthony-levandowski-an-engineer-who-stole-trade-secrets-receives-a-trump-pardon|date=January 20, 2021}}</ref>