AI startup sues ex-CEO, saying he took 41GB of email and lied on résumé

Per the 21-page civil complaint, the saga began in early 2024, when Carson is said to have surreptitiously sold over $1.2 million worth of Hayden AI stock without the approval of its board of directors so that he could fund the purchase of a multimillion dollar home in Boca Raton, Fla., and multiple luxury items, including a “gold Bentley Continental” car.

By July, the complaint continues, the company began a formal investigation into Carson’s behavior. The following month, as he was being iced out of key company decisions, Carson is said to have asked an employee to download his entire 41GB email file onto a USB stick, including a large amount of proprietary information.

Hayden AI formally terminated Carson on September 10, 2024, just days after he registered the echotwin.ai domain name.

Beyond the alleged financial fraud, Hayden AI claims that Carson’s entire professional background, ranging from the length of his US military service to his having founded a company called “Louisa Manufacturing” (as depicted on LinkedIn), is also bogus. The complaint calls Carson’s CV a “carefully constructed fraud.”

According to Carson’s LinkedIn profile, he completed a doctorate from Waseda University in Tokyo in 2007.

“That is a lie,” the complaint states. “Carson does not hold a PhD from Waseda or any other university. In 2007, he was not obtaining a PhD but was operating ‘Splat Action Sports,’ a paintball equipment business in a Florida strip mall.”