On Wednesday, Rippling publicly released affidavit of Corrugated Employees, who testified that he was working as a spy for HR tech’s Arch rival Deel.
and account, plus Corrugated lawsuit filed against Deel Last week, it read like a corporate spy movie script and was equipped with a stinging operation and smashed phone.
This is the latest escape between the two. TechCrunch records the best Hollywood-style parts of the following testimony, but be aware that this is just one side of the story – with its PR machine exploding, side volatility hope everyone knows, and CEO Parker Conrad Tweets appreciate this.
Review: Very openly rippling Announce Last week, it sued Deel for alleged espionage, from violating the Rico Stackeering Act, which is commonly used to prosecute mafia members, to file charges for abuse of trade secrets and unfair competition.
But at the time, it did not name the corrugated employee. This changed when the affidavit was issued on Wednesday, signed on April 1.
Become a corporate spy
According to the affidavit, Keith O’Brien was hired in July 2023 at the Global Payroll and Compliance Department of Dublin’s office.
In early 2024, he interviewed Deel’s job but didn’t get it, but he testified that he had established a connection with the founder of Deel through LinkedIn. The employee later started a salary consulting business, worked with him, and eventually told them that he planned to quit the ripple, working full-time.
The work permit said Deel founder CEO Alex Bouaziz and Bouaziz’s father Philippe Bouaziz (Deel’s CFO) suggested that O’Brien provide them with ripples instead of exiting.
O’Brien testified that they offered to pay €5,000 per month for $6,000 and then pay in cryptocurrency.
O’Brien testified that he searched on Slack, Google Drive and other corrugated resources for information and communicated via Deel’s contacts via telecom.
O’Brien testified that he handed over information about leads, product roadmaps, customer accounts, customer accounts, superstar employees’ names, information from approved countries, and other requested information.
The lawsuit said the espionage took place for four months and said in just one day he shared information about hundreds of companies requesting a Ripple presentation, hundreds of notes on the prospects of salespeople and details about the Deel customers Rippling is talking to.
Captured by simple traps
O’Brien believed he was wiping the evidence carefully, but he testified that he later found that some of the screen recordings he had taken with his phone were backed up to his iCloud account, not knowing about him.
Rippling said in the lawsuit that the company set a trap to get rid of spies by sending threatening legal letters to Deel’s leadership. The letter said that if the information was made public in a slack channel called “D-Defectors”, the frustrating employee was talking about information that would embarrass Deel. The lawsuit says Slack Channel exists, but it is a ruse.
O’Brien testified that he was instructed to search the D-Defectors channel and shortly after that, he was told not to-it could be a trap.
(It illustrates the relationship between the two companies, even a strategy, a ripple lawyer will even send such letters and be trusted.)
However, O’Brien obviously went bankrupt by searching that lax channel. On March 14, when he entered the office, a lawyer faced him a court order to search his equipment.
He testified that he flipped through his laptop but hid his cell phone, fled to the bathroom in the office, wiped the cell phone off the factory setting, and pretended to rinse it.
He testified that he later “broken my old phone with an axe and placed it in my mother-in-law’s house” and he believed the advice of the person representing Deel.
Attorneys tried to stop O’Brien from leaving the office, warning him that he would be asked to testify, but anyway, O’Brien left the lawsuit and the described employees.
The affidavit said that now panicked O’Brien immediately exchanged news with Deel’s CEO and other lawyers O’Brien believed were Deel’s. According to the affidavit, one even suggested flying O’Brien and his family to Dubai because of the extradition policy there.
During the exchanges, the men suggested that he make statements to various authorities that the Ripple was promoting payments in Russia and that he was harassed for trying to become a whistleblower.
O’Brien said he was initially for the idea, but testified: “I know it’s wrong.”
He eventually hired his own lawyer, shortly thereafter – after anxiety and illness about the situation, he chose to work with the authorities and “tell the truth.”
Deer did not respond to our request for comment, nor did his CEO respond on X.
“After Rippling was accused of violating Russian sanctions laws and sowing false things about Deer, Rippling tried to change the narrative with these sensational claims. We deny all legal wrongdoing and look forward to asserting our counterclaims.”
However, Rippling’s lawyers think they have “smoking guns.”
“In this case, the evidence is undeniable. The highest level of Deel leadership involves a tough corporate espionage program and will be held accountable,” Rippling legal counsel Alex Spiro told TechCrunch.
Others were applauding and roaming. Eynat Guez, CEO of another DEEL competitor Global Payment Platform Papaya Global, Tweet“It’s not a one-off event as far as we know. Thanks @parkerconrad for taking the initiative and ending this approach.”
Interestingly, sometimes, Ripple antics against Deere trigger a rebound in counterattack. Last year, Rippling launched a marketing campaign called “Snake Game” that contradicted its competitors. but Ripples are linked online about it.
