Hayden AI, a San Francisco startup that builds camera-based spatial analytics tools for transit agencies, has hauled its former co-founder and CEO, Chris Carson, into court, accusing him of secretly selling company shares, forging board signatures and copying massive troves of internal emails before he was fired in September 2024. The complaint says the disputed stock sales helped bankroll multimillion-dollar purchases and alleges that Carson quickly launched a rival outfit, EchoTwin AI. Court papers, along with reporting by the New York Post, say he also warned that he would escalate the conflict by reaching out to former New York City mayor Eric Adams.
What the lawsuit says
In a complaint of roughly 21 pages, Hayden alleges that Carson sold more than $1.2 million worth of Hayden stock without getting the required sign-off from the board, then forged board members' signatures to fabricate a resolution that appeared to authorize the deal. In the days leading up to his termination, the filing says, he copied about 41 gigabytes of company emails and contracts.
Hayden is asking a San Francisco judge for preliminary injunctive relief requiring the return or destruction of the copied data and barring any use of the materials to compete with the company. As reported by Ars Technica, the complaint casts the alleged conduct as part of a broader pattern of fraudulent behavior.
Alleged spending and new funding
The lawsuit also sketches out a series of luxury buys that Hayden contends were financed with the secret stock proceeds, including a $2.7 million waterfront home in Boca Raton and high-end cars such as a Bentley Continental, a McLaren 750S and an Aston Martin. The filing and subsequent coverage say Carson moved quickly to register the echotwin.ai domain and line up seed funding for his new venture, with press accounts putting that early round at about $8 million, led by Metis Ventures. Those spending and fundraising allegations were reported in Forbes.
Employees, customers and the rivalry
According to the court filings, Hayden says some employees left to join EchoTwin after Carson’s departure and that the copied cache included customer contracts and technical work product that could give a newcomer a running start. The complaint notes that Hayden counts transit agencies among its clients and warns that any unauthorized use of those materials could disrupt active projects and strain customer relationships.
Ars Technica has also reported on the dispute and the tug-of-war between the two AI firms as they chase the same slice of the govtech and mobility market.
Threat to bring in Eric Adams
The New York Post reported that, after his ouster, Carson wrote that he would escalate his concerns to former New York City mayor Eric Adams if they were not resolved, a line the paper says appears in the court documents. That specific claim has not yet been independently corroborated by other outlets following the case, and the complaint itself remains the main public source for the allegation.
Legal implications
The lawsuit asserts claims that include fraud, forgery and trade-secret misappropriation, and Hayden has asked the court for emergency measures to preserve evidence and prevent any competitive use of the data it says was taken. Plaintiffs often seek preliminary injunctions in trade-secret and data-theft cases so a judge can act quickly to limit alleged harm while the case grinds on.
As explained by Law360, courts typically balance those requests against the apparent strength of the plaintiff’s case and the potential harm to both sides, weighing whether freezing the status quo is fair or whether it would inflict its own kind of damage.
Company statement and response
Hayden has told reporters it spent months trying to hash out the dispute privately before heading to court, saying it ultimately filed suit to protect its workforce and its customers. Carson and EchoTwin have not offered detailed public rebuttals to the specific allegations in the early coverage of the complaint. EchoTwin’s website lists a leadership team and open roles, but the company did not respond to questions from reporters. Those accounts were summarized in a report by Forbes.
The case is set to move forward in San Francisco Superior Court, where a judge will decide whether to grant the temporary protections Hayden is seeking and whether the claims are strong enough to survive early challenges. For San Francisco’s close-knit govtech and mobility scene, the fight between Hayden AI and its former chief is a pointed reminder of how quickly internal startup drama can spill into public view, with real stakes for agencies and riders who just want their buses to run on time.
