Anthony Levandowski could face prison time after pleading guilty on Thursday to stealing proprietary documents from Google, his former employer, before leaving to found Otto and later join Uber.
"I downloaded these files with the intent to use them for my own personal benefit, and I understand that I was not authorized to take the files for that purpose," Levandowski wrote in a court filing. His attorney, Miles Ehrlich, told the Washington Post that "we hope that this plea will allow him to move on with his life and focus his energies where they matter most."
Last month, a San Francisco court ordered Levandowski to pay $179 million to Google, after which he promptly filed for bankruptcy.