The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an on-site investigation of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing facility in Zionsville, Indiana on Wednesday morning.
FOX59/CBS4 in Indianapolis first reported the story and received a confirmation from the FBI and that there was no threat to the public. Agents instructed employees to leave computers and electronic devices in place and to leave the facility.
A report in RACER.com states that the investigation stemmed from a senior engineer with the Rahal team who left Andretti Global and transferred intellectual property while making that move. That same outlet received a statement from the team.
“We are cooperating fully with investigators,” said the statement. “Given that this is an ongoing investigation, we are limited in what information we can share right now, but we intend to provide additional information as soon as we can.”
Zionsville Mayor John Stehr confirmed to the Indiana Business Journal that the FBI “requested assistance” from the department.
“The FBI called our Police Department and said, ‘We’re going to do a raid in this building. Can you send some cars?’ Which we did,” Stehr told the Indiana Business Journal. “But they did not give us any information on what the nature of the raid was.”
The FBI arrived at the RLL shop at 8:30 a.m.
Andretti COO Rob Edwards offered a ‘no comment’ when asked by RACER about the development. RACER also reported that the FBI visited the Andretti building in August over the same case.
RLL is owned by IndyCar legend Bobby Rahal. pop culture star David Letterman and businessman Mike Lanigan.