Uber Reportedly Facing Five Criminal Probes as Legal Chief Leaves Company

Uber is reportedly subject to five criminal probes from the Justice Department as the company’s legal chief Salle Yoo prepares to leave.

Bloomberg reports that ride-sharing app Uber is currently the subject of five separate criminal probes from the Justice Department relating to a number of allegations. When Uber’s current CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, took over from Travis Kalanick in September, the CEO reportedly told employees to brace themselves for a difficult six months as the company came under fire over a number of scandals, from allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace to the alleged use of “Greyball” software, which reportedly allowed Uber to hide cars from regulators and law enforcement.

The Justice Department is currently investigating whether or not Uber violated price-transparency laws, while officials are also reportedly investigating Uber’s role in the alleged theft of information from Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car project Waymo.

Uber’s legal chief, Salle Yoo, is soon to leave the company and discussed the attitude towards legal issues at Uber on a podcast earlier this year, saying, “I tell my team, ‘We’re not here to solve legal problems. We’re here to solve business problems. Legal is our tool.’”

“I am going to be supportive of innovation,” she said.

One of Uber’s questionable programs was titled “Hell” and was used to determine the location information of drivers from rival ride-hailing company Lyft, allegedly allowing Uber to determine which areas in the city they should place more drivers. This program was approved by Uber’s legal team, but now the use of the program is subject to investigation by the Justice Department.

Former CEO Travis Kalanick reportedly told legal chief Salle Yoo in her first performance review that he wanted her to be more “innovative,” an idea that as a lawyer Yoo found odd but exciting.

“This is the first time as a lawyer that I’ve been asked to be innovative. What I’m hearing from this is I actually don’t have to do things like any other legal department,” said Yoo. “I don’t have to go to best practices. I have to go to what is best for my company, what is best for my legal department. And I should view this as, actually, freedom to do things the way I think things should be done, rather than the way other people do it.”