Adding to its recent legal woes, Uber is facing a criminal probe from the Justice Department, according to people familiar with the investigation. The investigation, which concerns the ride sharing service’s controversial Greyball tracking tool, is reportedly in its early stages. A federal inquiry does not necessarily indicate wrongdoing; criminal charges being brought against Uber executives are also not a guarantee.

Since The New York Times uncovered its existence in March, Greyball has been a lightning rod of controversy. Greyball is a technology that allows Uber to present fake versions of its app to people it does not want in its cars–like city officials looking to reign in the company’s illegal practices–and track them using credit card data and other personal information. Uber claims it used the tool to protect its drivers in new markets, some of which the service operated in illegally, like Portland, Oregon.

After the Times’ report in March, an Uber spokesman said Greyball “denies ride requests to users who are violating our terms of service — whether that’s people aiming to physically harm drivers, competitors looking to disrupt our operations, or opponents who collude with officials on secret ‘stings’ meant to entrap drivers.”

But officials in cities like Portland, where Uber fought through legal hurdles in late 2014 before it began legally operating in the city in April 2015, say the tool was used for more nefarious reasons. According to Portland transportation officials, Uber intentionally skirted 16 city officials who were looking to shut-down the service because it was operating illegally at the time. Uber’s attorneys say the tool was used “exceedingly sparingly” in Portland; it had not been used since April 2015, they said.

Uber and its embattled chief executive, Travis Kalanick, has been embroiled in controversy for much of the year. From a spate of sexual assault accusations to a video of Kalanick berating an Uber driver, the $70 billion dollar behemoth is facing uncertainty as it enters Silicon Valley’s newest frontier: self-driving vehicles. In fact, Uber’s future in that field is increasingly in doubt. It was also recently hit with a lawsuit from Google’s autonomous car division, Waymo, which accused Uber of stealing its trade secrets.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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On Thursday, Egyptian investigators announced that traces of explosives had been found on the remains of victims of the EgyptAir 804 crash, indicating that the plane was taken down deliberately. The evidence has been turned over to a public prosecutor who will start a criminal investigation.

The plane crash in May has long been a mystery. In June, a French ship detected a signal from the plane’s black box, in the Mediterranean Sea north of Egypt. In July, the sound recordings from the box indicated that the plane had gone down in a fire, but it was unclear what caused it. The plane was heading from Paris to Cairo when it went down, killing all 66 passengers on board.

News Alert: Traces of explosives found on EgyptAir victims. pic.twitter.com/lSnDM3yviR

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 15, 2016

In October 2015, a Russian passenger flight crashed in Egypt, killing 224 people. The Islamic State later took responsibility for the crash, saying it had smuggled explosives on board. But since no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the fate of flight 804, investigators believed that technical failure was to blame. Also, the cockpit voice recorder revealed that the pilots tried to extinguish a fire aboard and electronic evidence showed that smoke detectors went off in a bathroom. That indicated that there was a slow fire rather than an abrupt explosion.

The relationship between France and Egypt has been tense since the incident, as has the probe. Since the investigating team consists of officials from multiple countries, Egypt and France among others, the operation has been contentious at times. Egyptian officials have not wanted to share information with foreign investigators. And the French investigators don’t agree with the Egyptians’ recent findings, though they “can’t exclude that the plane was brought down intentionally,” an official said to the Wall Street Journal.

While France has wanted the victims’ remains to be returned to their families as soon as possible, Egypt has refused, citing the ongoing investigation. “France expects that the transmission of this report to the Egyptian prosecutor clears the way for the victims’ remains to be returned to their families as quickly as possible,” a spokesman for the French foreign minister said.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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