TREASURY

Nominee declines deputy secretary job

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s efforts to fill out the top ranks of the department were dealt a setback as a Goldman Sachs banker withdrew from consideration to serve as his deputy.

Jim Donovan cited personal reasons for declining President Trump’s nomination to be deputy treasury secretary.

“At this time I want to focus on my family, and I can no longer accept it,” Donovan said in statement Friday.

The decision could impede Mnuchin’s effort to deliver an ambitious economic agenda that includes a tax overhaul, deregulation of the financial industry and reform of the housing finance system. Mnuchin has been in office since February with most key senior-level Treasury positions unfilled.

Donovan was an “enormous asset” in helping build Mnuchin’s team at the Treasury, Tony Sayegh, the department’s spokesman, said in a statement.

— Bloomberg

TECHNOLOGY

Uber pushes executive to comply with court

Uber is threatening to fire a key executive accused of stealing self-driving car technology from a Google spinoff unless he waives his constitutional right against self-incrimination so the ride-hailing service can comply with a court order.

Uber made the threat in a May 15 letter that became public in a court filing late Thursday.

The executive is Anthony Levandowski, whose expertise in robot-controlled cars was the main reason that Uber bought his start-up for $680 million nine months ago. Until last month, Levandowski had been running Uber’s self-driving car division.

Waymo, a self-driving car company started by Google, alleges that Levandowski downloaded 14,000 documents containing its trade secrets before he founded his start-up.

Levandowski had pleaded the Fifth Amendment since Waymo filed its lawsuit in February. Uber had been standing by him until last week, when a federal judge ordered Uber to return any documents belonging to Waymo by May 31.

— Associated Press

Securities regulation

Va. man arrested in Fitbit hoax, U.S. says

A Virginia man who staged a hoax takeover bid that drove up Fitbit’s stock price in November has been arrested and charged with fraud, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Robert Walter Murray, 24, of Chesapeake was accused of submitting a sham regulatory filing in which Shanghai-based ABM Capital — a company that didn’t exist — offered to buy Fitbit for $12.50 a share, a 46 percent premium.

The filing caused Fitbit’s share price to rise 8 percent, to $9.27, on Nov. 10, boosting its market value by $122 million, before the wearable-device maker denied knowledge of any tender offer.

Authorities said Murray spent less than $1,000 on Fitbit call options — a bet the share price would rise — before submitting the hoax offer and made a $3,000 profit in one day by selling the options after the stock jumped.

Murray, who was charged with securities and wire fraud, also faces charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

— Reuters

Also in Business

Up to 40,000 AT&T workers started walking off the job Friday over contract fights, the Communications Workers of America said. They’ll return to work Monday. Participating in the walkout are 21,000 workers on the wireless side of the company, which means some cellphone stores could be closed this weekend in the District and the 36 states affected. Wireless workers want wage increases that cover higher health-care costs, better scheduling and promises from the company not to cut jobs. Some 17,000 other potential protesters come from AT&T’s home phone, Internet and cable division. Another 2,000 are DirecTV workers.

Fiat Chrysler has applied for diesel emission certifications for its 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 models. In January, the Environmental Protection Agency alleged the automaker used software in previous model years that allowed the vehicles to emit more pollution than revealed in tests. Fiat Chrysler denied the allegation. It said it has updated the faulty software that the EPA said affected 104,000 Grand Cherokee SUVs and Ram pickups for model years 2014 to 2016.

Ford said Friday that it would add Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to its Sync 3-equipped 2016 vehicles for the first time via a wireless software update. The latest upgrade to Sync 3, Ford’s interactive touch-screen system, will come through an over-the-air update using WiFi. Customers can also get an update by visiting their dealer or using a USB drive, Ford said.

From news reports