AI startups CEO threatened to call ex-NYC Mayor Eric Adams after getting fired over alleged fraudulent stock sales: court docs
A deep-pocketed AI startup whose clients include New York City’s MTA and the Los Angeles Metro has filed a lawsuit accusing its ex-CEO of forging documents to secretly sell his shares in the company – and then scooping up a waterfront home in Florida and a fleet of luxury sports cars.In an added twist, the tech firm alleges that after it ousted its co-founder and former chief executive, Christopher Carson, he threatened to call former New York Mayor Eric Adams over what he claimed was wrongful termination, according to court documents.Hayden AI – a San Francisco-based outfit valued at an estimated $464 million with backers that include buyout giant TPG, Mitsubishi and numerous venture firms – alleges that Carson sold $1.2 million worth of stock in January 2024 without the knowledge or approval of the board, according to court documents. To pull off the alleged scheme, Carson forged board members’ signatures – grafting them from an unrelated company document to create a phony resolution that authorized the sale, according to a lawsuit filed last week in California state court in San Francisco.Around that same time, Carson bought and renovated a $2.7 million waterfront spread in Boca Raton, Fla., even as he blew his stock windfall on luxury watches and designer handbags, according to court documents. Carson likewise splurged on a fleet of luxury cars that included a 2023 Aston Martin, a McLaren 750S, a gold Bentley Continental and a Ducati motorcycle, according to the suit. Hayden AI – which installs AI-powered cameras on buses in New York, LA and Washington, DC to detect vehicles 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 at the time, according to the suit.“But if they go unaddressed, I will escalate this matter – including ...