A federal grand jury indicted three former Silicon Valley engineers in California Thursday for allegedly conspiring to commit trade secret theft from Google and other technology companies, which were allegedly sent to Iran.
The federal indictment charged former Google engineers and sisters Samaneh and Soroor Ghandali, along with Mohammad Khosravi who worked at a different tech company, with conspiring to commit trade secret theft, theft, attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice.
The sisters and Khosravi, who is married to Samaneh Ghandali, allegedly used their employment to obtain access to confidential and sensitive information, which they then exfiltrated to unauthorized third-party and personal locations, and to Iran.
“As alleged, the defendants exploited their positions to steal confidential trade secrets from their employers," U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said. "Our office will continue to lead the way in protecting American innovation and we will vigorously prosecute individuals who steal sensitive advanced technologies for improper gain or to benefit countries that wish us ill."
The indictment claimed the sisters, while working at Google, transferred hundreds of files, including Google trade secrets, to a third-party communications platform that featured channels with the defendants' first names.
The files were also copied to various personal devices, along with Khosravi’s work device, and Soroor Ghandali’s work device from a third company, according to the Justice Department. Khosravi and his wife also allegedly traveled to Iran in 2023, where they accessed photographs of trade secrets of Khosravi's undisclosed employer.
The defendants then allegedly tried to hide their actions by submitting false but signed affidavits to victim technology companies about the conduct and stolen trade secrets, along with destroying files and other records.
If convicted, the defendants each face up to 20 years in prison for obstruction of official proceedings and up to 10 years for the conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets charges.
