A shady software developer who wanted the “satanic” Uber to go bankrupt will spend two years behind bars, as will his partner in crime, after helping the rideshare app’s drivers charge customers millions in bogus surge pricing fees.
Eliahou Paldiel, 53, of Queens, and accomplice Carlos Arturo Suarez Palacios, 55, of Brick Township, N.J., were sentenced last week in Brooklyn Federal Court after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in the years-long scheme.
Paldiel and Suarez were the masterminds behind two phone apps — “Screwber” and “FakeGPS” — hundreds of drivers used to manipulate surge fares, according to federal prosecutors.
The pair hoped to get rich off their scheme, making drivers pay $600 for special “jail-broken” phones loaded with their software plus a $300 monthly subscription fee, according to the feds.
Paldiel wanted to stick it to Uber, according to filings by prosecutors. He shared memes mocking the rideshare company’s CEO and bragged in a message to one driver he did business with, “I hope before I am done with Uber that I have cause[d] millions in damage to them, I consider them Satanic no regret … [i]f I could make them go Bankrupt my life would have meaning.”
But the scheme hurt customers, who were swindled into paying more than they should have, and honest drivers who lost out on actual surge fees and more valuable fares, according to the feds.
Court evidence
Messages between defendants Paldiel and Suarez. (Court evidence)
The Screwber app gave drivers information they weren’t allowed to have so they could cherry-pick the most lucrative customers, the feds say. The FakeGPS app let riders spoof their locations to make it look like they were located in an area with surging prices when they weren’t and would let them cut the line in airport and event queues.
The jail-broken phones even sent push notifications to the drivers, offering advice on how to avoid getting caught using the apps.
The drivers made more than $40 million in fares from January 2020 through June 2024, according to the feds, though it’s not clear what percent of that amount came from improperly jacked-up prices.
Paldiel and Suarez’s lawyers argued in court filings that both men drove for Uber at one point, and they created the apps to strike a blow for New York and New Jersey’s rideshare drivers. The duo felt drivers were being hurt by the company’s business practices, especially a “blind destination” policy that prevented drivers from learning the destination or fare of a ride until they accepted it.
“Initially, Mr. Suarez’s intentions were to improve his own quality of life while driving for Uber,” Suarez’s lawyer, Elena Fast, wrote. “He began by developing an application that permitted Uber drivers to see the destination of the trip prior to accepting it.”
Paldiel’s lawyer, Donald duBoulay, called the demand for that destination information “palpable.”
“Enter the defendants who recognized an opportunity to uncover the truthful hidden information and provide that service to rideshare drivers for a fee,” he wrote to Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Margo Brodie. “The idea was to meet the demands of the driving community. Hence Screwber was born. The motivation for the services provided did not originate as an intention to steal money from Uber.”
Court evidence
In a 2022 email, defendant Carlos Suarez expressed concern that the app was being detected by Uber. (Court evidence)
Prosecutors countered that the duo were motivated by greed, not virtue. They asked the judge to sentence the men to between four and five years.
“The defendants believed themselves to be Robin Hood, stealing from the rich, but knowing in the end that any comparison to Robin Hood, who was a criminal himself, wouldn’t save them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Rehnquist wrote. “This was plainly a crime driven by greed rather than necessity and intended to inflict harm.”
Brodie ultimately went with a two-year sentence, sentencing Paldiel Tuesday and Suarez Thursday.
