The Federal Bureau of Investigation dispatched agents to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing shop in Zionsville, Indiana on Wednesday morning.
The FBI is alleged to have instructed employees within RLL to leave their computers and related electronic devices in place, gather their belongings, and depart the building as agents began an investigation.
The source of the investigation is alleged to involve a former employee of the Andretti Global IndyCar team, who left the team to join RLL in a senior engineering role, and the alleged transfer of intellectual property from their former team to their current team.
“We are cooperating fully with investigators,” said the team in a statement issued on Wednesday evening. “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.”
The FBI is also alleged to have visited the Andretti shop in August to look for proof of possible IP-related improprieties.
A call to Andretti COO Rob Edwards on Wednesday to inquire about the alleged FBI visit to the team’s shop, and whether that visit was possibly linked to today’s FBI appearance at RLL, was met with a “No comment.”
This story has been updated to include the statement from RLL.