Uber’s Troubled Past Haunts Criminal Case of Ex-Security Chief

When Joe Sullivan was fired from his job as Uber Technologies Inc.’s security chief, the ride-hailing giant declared a clean break from its problematic past.

Now, five years later, as he faces criminal charges stemming from an alleged coverup of a massive data breach, Sullivan wants to put the company, its current chief executive officer and its prior management team on trial with him.

Fighting charges that he concealed a 2016 theft of personal data of 50 million customers and 7 million drivers, Sullivan claims Uber’s legal department and other managers were aware of the incident before it blew ...