AI startup’s CEO threatened to call ex-NYC Mayor – Business News
A deep-pocketed AI startup whose shoppers embrace New York City’s MTA and the Los Angeles Metro has filed a lawsuit accusing its ex-CEO of forging paperwork to secretly sell his shares within the company – after which scooping up a waterfront home in Florida and a fleet of luxurious sports activities automobiles.
In an added twist, the tech firm alleges that after it ousted its co-founder and former chief government, Christopher Carson, he threatened to call former New York Mayor Eric Adams over what he claimed was wrongful termination, in accordance to court docket paperwork.
Hayden AI – a San Francisco-based outfit valued at an estimated $464 million with backers that embrace buyout giant TPG, Mitsubishi and quite a few enterprise companies – alleges that Carson offered $1.2 million value of stock in January 2024 with out the information or approval of the board, in accordance to court docket paperwork.
Hayden AI has sued former CEO Christopher Carson, accusing him of forging paperwork to secretly sell his shares within the company EchoTwin AI
To pull off the alleged scheme, Carson solid board members’ signatures – grafting them from an unrelated company doc to create a phony decision that approved the sale, in accordance to a lawsuit filed final week in California state court docket in San Francisco.
Around that very same time, Carson purchased and renovated a $2.7 million waterfront unfold in Boca Raton, Fla., whilst he blew his stock windfall on luxurious watches and designer purses, in accordance to court docket paperwork.
Carson likewise splurged on a fleet of luxurious automobiles that included a 2023 Aston Martin, a McLaren 750S, a gold Bentley Continental and a Ducati motorbike, in accordance to the go well with.
Hayden AI – which installs AI-powered cameras on buses in New York, LA and Washington, DC to detect automobiles illegally parked in bus and bike lanes – claims that after it ousted Carson over the alleged fraud in September 2024, the CEO responded by threatening to complain to New York’s then-mayor Adams.
“For now I am raising these concerns privately,” Carson wrote on the time, in accordance to the go well with. “But if they go unaddressed, I will escalate this matter – including through direct discussions with Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, with whom I’ve already had preliminary conversations.”
Carson didn’t reply to requests for an interview.
Former Hayden AI CEO Christopher Carson allegedly threatened to complain to then-New York Mayor Eric Adams over his ouster from the company. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
“Mayor Adams would never get in the middle of a dispute between an employer and employee,” mentioned Adams’ spokesperson Todd Shapiro. “If I had a quarter for every time someone said they were going to call the mayor, I’d be a rich man.”
Investors have plowed some $177 million into Hayden AI, whereas attracting expertise like former Microsoft government Stuart McKee, who beforehand headed operations, and former US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, who served a stint on Hayden AI’s board.
“We spent months attempting to resolve this privately, but it became clear that legal action was needed to protect our team, our customers and fair competition in our industry,” a Hayden AI spokesperson mentioned.
The MTA was a shopper of Hayden AI. Helayne Seidman
Carson’s allegedly unauthorized transactions induced inaccuracies in Hayden’s capitalization desk in Carta, a financial management software program favored by startups, that had been in the end traced back to Carson, in accordance to the go well with.
Hayden AI additionally claimed that Carson fabricated his previous. Carson wrote on his LinkedIn and resume that he obtained a PhD degree from a Japanese college in 2007.
“That is a lie,” the go well with alleges. “In 2007, he was not obtaining a PhD but was operating ‘Splat Action Sports,’ a paintball equipment business in a Florida strip mall.”
Hayden AI’s merchandise embrace visitors enforcement technology. Hayden AI
When Hayden AI launched an investigation, Carson directed a subordinate within the IT division who was unaware of the probe to copy reams of company secrets and techniques onto a USB drive, in accordance to the go well with. Carson could now be utilizing the stolen information to operate a competing company, Boca Raton-based EchoTwin AI, the go well with alleges.
“Armed with 41 gigabytes of Hayden’s confidential information including trade secrets that Carson lifted straight out of Hayden’s proprietary data in the form of Carson’s entire email file, Carson founded EchoTwin,” the lawsuit claims.
In September, EchoTwin AI raised an $8 million seed funding spherical led by Turkey-based Metis Ventures. At least 9 Hayden AI staff defected to EchoTwin, in accordance to LinkedIn profiles. Neither EchoTwin nor Metis responded to requests for remark.
Hayden AI additionally alleges that Carson claimed to be a Marine Corps veteran who performed an energetic function within the first Gulf War, serving for 4 years. In actuality, the go well with claims, he was discharged after solely two years of service.
While Carson bragged about his army service, posing in a army uniform in social media posts, his outfit wasn’t from the US Marines however as a substitute from a Myanmar militia energetic during the nation’s civil warfare, in accordance to the go well with.
