A new lawsuit accuses a senior official at Shield AI of “profane, egregious acts” of sexual harassment and alleges fraud and safety issues involving other workers at the defense tech startup.
Jacob Miller said in his lawsuit that he was placed on “retaliatory administrative leave” in December from his job at the firm. Miller alleges that Trey Lindsey, senior director of customer operations, made sexually explicit and threatening comments about Miller and other staff members and described a gay employee and his husband in offensive terms. In one instance, during the summer of 2024, Lindsey showed Miller a picture of his genitalia laying atop a commemorative plate of former President Barack Obama, according to the complaint.
In addition, Miller said he flagged safety issues and fraud allegations to the company that weren’t adequately addressed. Miller said in the lawsuit, filed against Shield AI and Lindsey in federal court in Texas on Thursday, that he had been working as a senior staff technical product development manager at Shield AI.
Lindsey didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
San Diego-based Shield AI, which investors recently valued at $12.7 billion for its work manufacturing autonomous military aircraft and software, declined to comment.
Miller left the firm about a month ago, according to his attorneys.
Shield AI makes autonomous vertical drones and AI software to pilot them. Since brothers Brandon and Ryan Tseng co-founded the company in 2015 it’s attracted more than $3 billion from top investors betting the Pentagon would swiftly adopt new technology from Silicon valley along with traditional systems. Shield AI expects more than $540 million in revenue this year and has set a goal to reach $1 billion in revenue by March 2028, Fortune reported in March.
Miller, a Texas resident, alleges that the company ignored him when he raised concerns about safety and potential fraud.
For instance, he said he was part of the Mishap Review Board, which oversees investigations into faulty products and drone-related crashes and injuries during testing and development. However, “after his protected complaints on aircraft safety,” he was removed from the board, according to the lawsuit.
In July 2025, a pilot was allowed to bring his preteen child aboard an unauthorized flight, and the child was injured when the pilot conducted an evasive maneuver to avoid a near midair collision with an autonomous aircraft, according to the complaint.
“In response, said pilot whose child was injured was promoted to Chief Standardization Pilot and defendant refused to report the incident,” according to the lawsuit.
During the summer of 2024, Miller said he began a financial audit of his team and claims he found evidence of fraud involving another employee.
The employee resigned after Miller says he removed the person from their position and placed them on an improvement plan, according to the lawsuit. However, Miller alleged Lindsey and another senior official “quickly reversed course” and attempted to rehire the former employee after the person alleged harassment and unethical conduct by Lindsey and other senior leadership.
Top photo: The Shield AI website. Bloomberg.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
‘Big Tobacco’ Moment for Cannabis: What Insurers Need to Know About Murray v. Cresco 
Fatalities Reported in Washington Packaging Facility Explosion 
US Food Prices Face Inflation Threat from El Niño and Iran 
Groups Seek FTC Probe into Roblox for Kid Spending 
Want to stay up to date?
Get the latest insurance news
sent straight to your inbox.