In the United States, the company Hayden AI, which specializes in developing spatial analytics and computer vision systems for urban services, has filed a lawsuit against its former CEO, Chris Carson. The firm accuses the ex-executive of using a forged resume to obtain the CEO position, as well as a series of serious abuses during his tenure at the startup, which is valued at $350 million.
This is reported by Business • Media
Legal Claims: Resume Falsification and Financial Manipulations
According to the lawsuit filed by the company, Chris Carson “meticulously fabricated his professional biography,” including inventing details about his military service, involvement in founding other companies, and obtaining a doctoral degree. His resume and LinkedIn profile stated that he received a PhD from Waseda University (Tokyo) in 2007, which, according to Hayden AI, is false—Carson has no degree from this or any other university.
The lawsuit states that Carson’s professional biography was a “meticulously fabricated fraud.”
Initial suspicions regarding Carson’s activities at the company arose in early 2024. At that time, Hayden AI claims, he secretly sold company shares worth over $1.2 million without the approval of the board of directors. The funds obtained, according to the firm, were spent on purchasing luxury real estate in Boca Raton, Florida, and luxury items, including a gold Bentley Continental.
Theft of Corporate Data and Creation of a Competitor
In the summer of 2024, the board of directors removed Carson from making key decisions. At that time, the company reported, he asked an employee to download the entire archive of corporate emails. Approximately 41 GB of correspondence and other confidential data from Hayden AI was copied onto a USB drive.
Carson’s official termination occurred on September 10, 2024, but even before that, he registered the domain name echotwin.ai. Subsequently, the ex-executive founded the startup EchoTwin AI, which, according to Hayden AI, uses the stolen information and has become a direct competitor to the company.
In its lawsuit, Hayden AI demands that the court require Chris Carson to return or destroy all copied corporate data. Carson has not publicly commented on these allegations at this time.
It is worth noting that earlier, the company Anthropic initiated a lawsuit against the administration of former US President Donald Trump.