ridesharing

Jack Nicastro | 10.9.2025 3:45 PM

When Empower entered the Washington, D.C., rideshare market in 2020, it promised to disrupt the status quo by empowering drivers to work for themselves, set their own fares, and collect 100 percent of the proceeds—paying Empower a flat monthly rate to use its software. Despite delivering on this promise to its drivers—who earn more with Empower than by working for rideshares—and facilitating lower fares for riders, the company has faced relentless bureaucratic opposition. After a years-long legal battle with the city, including numerous cease and desist orders and tens of millions of dollars in fines, Empower's time in the nation's capital could be drawing to a close.

On September 26, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb requested that Empower CEO Joshua Sear be incarcerated until Empower "has ceased operating in the District without registration." Last Tuesday, D.C. Superior Court Judge Shana Frost Matini declined to take Sear into custody on the condition that Empower stop serving the district by October 10. If Empower doesn't shut down its D.C. operations by this Friday, Matini will have the "contumacious" Sear incarcerated.

Sear tells........

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