Uber hired former CIA officer in probe of lawsuit opponent

Todd Egeland had a long career with the CIA, serving in senior positions like chief strategy officer, chief of cyberthreat analysis and chief of counterintelligence assessments, according to his bio.

But Egeland, whose bio says he retired from the CIA in 2008, has been involved in an investigation for an unlikely paymaster — Uber, CNBC has learned.

The revelation that Uber hired a CIA veteran to conduct investigations into an opponent came in a judge's order Tuesday in a legal tussle between Uber founder Travis Kalanick and a plaintiff who alleges that Kalanick engaged in a price-fixing scheme with Uber drivers.

One focus of the months-long legal battle has been over Uber's use of a private investigative firm called Ergo, which is based in New York.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ordered Uber to hand over documents in the case. Plaintiff attorneys are trying to figure out what Uber's involvement, if any, was in an alleged incident in which an investigator working for the private investigative firm is said to have lied in order to obtain information about a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/09/uber-hired-former-cia-officer-in-probe-of-lawsuit-opponent.html