A US federal grand jury has charged three Silicon Valley engineers with allegedly stealing trade secrets from technology companies, including Google, and transferring the information to Iran, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
The three engineers, all Iranian nationals, face charges of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of official proceedings. They were identified in court documents as Samaneh Ghandali, 41, her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, and her husband Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40.
The trio were arrested on Thursday and appeared in a federal district court in San Jose, California.
Samaneh and Soroor Ghandali had previously worked at Google before moving to another company, while Khosravi was employed at a separate technology firm. All three lived in San Jose.
Prosecutors alleged that the engineers used their positions at companies dealing with mobile computer processors to access sensitive data, including information related to data security, which they then transferred to Iran. It is not clear who received the information in Iran.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said the alleged actions “reflect a calculated betrayal of trust by individuals accused of stealing trade secrets from the very tech companies that employed them."
Authorities said the Ghandalis stole hundreds of files, including Google trade secrets related to Pixel smartphone processors, and copied them to personal devices and third-party communication platforms.
The former engineers are also accused of attempting to conceal their actions by destroying files and other electronic records.
Google reportedly detected Samaneh Ghandali’s activity through internal security systems and revoked her access to company resources in August 2023.
The US Justice Department said Ghandali and Khosravi travelled to Iran in December 2023, during which time a personal device linked to Ghandali accessed the sensitive documents.
Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News
