The stolen documents included plans for Waymo's LiDAR system, the suit alleges.
In May 2016, Levandowski founded the self-driving truck company Otto.
That's how you do it - catch them, let them found a startup, wait for someone with a lot of money to buy them for the intellectual property, and then sue the deep pockets.
Waymo allegedly found out by being inadvertently cc'd in an email from a supplier that disclosed the Uber circuit board design. I would assume that unnamed company signed a contract in which they promised not to disclose such information and obligated them to indemnify, and perhaps defend, Uber for any damages resulting therefrom. I am interested in seeing how they will play into this as well.
I can't imagine the reaction of the email sender when they found out what they had done. Wow.