Uber is Officially Involved in a Federal Criminal Investigation

Earlier this week, news broke that Uber had erroneously charged one user the equivalent of $14,000 for a 21-minute ride across Toronto. But while that was bad for public relations, the latest Uber news could be much worse for the company. That’s because the Department of Justice officially confirmed that it has an open investigation involving the ride-hailing company.

The New York Times reports that, as part of the lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, the Department of Justice submitted a letter to Judge William Alsup claiming there is more evidence that Uber had not turned over. The evidence is reportedly related to accusations that Uber illegally gathered information on competing ride-share companies. As the New York Times points out, the Justice Department doesn’t often involve itself in lawsuits like this, making it an unusual action.

“In the course of a United States’ pending criminal investigation, the government interviewed a former Uber employee named Richard Jacobs,” the letter said.

Exactly what the DOJ is investigating isn’t yet clear. There’s strong reason, however, to believe that the Justice Department is looking into Uber’s Greyball software. Greyball was a program Uber used to hide its operations from law enforcement in cities that had banned the ride-hailing company. The investigation could also be related to reports that Uber bribed foreign officials and possibly violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Last spring, a report surfaced claiming that the DOJ had opened an investigation into Uber’s use of Greyball, but until now, we hadn’t seen an official confirmation of any investigation at all.

Source: New York Times

The post Uber is Officially Involved in a Federal Criminal Investigation appeared first on Motor Trend.

from Motor Trend http://ift.tt/2CiZLYf