How will the social media giant punish a thief and what does it plan to do?
Meta recently sued its former vice president for "brazen, disloyal and dishonest behavior," meaning that he allegedly stole confidential company documents, which he then used to develop a cloud startup with artificial intelligence and lure his former colleagues to this startup.
Deepinder Singh Khurana has worked his way up to the rank of Vice President of Infrastructure for 12 years at the company. He left the ranks of Meta in June 2023 to take the position of senior vice president for supply chain operations at a stealth startup, the name of which was not disclosed in the lawsuit.
Khurana is accused of using his corporate computer to copy "a whole arsenal of proprietary, highly sensitive, confidential and non-public documents about the Meta business and its employees," including details about the company's data centers and artificial intelligence programs.
In addition, these documents, according to the lawsuit, contained information about Meta contracts with key suppliers and vendors, including information on prices and conditions, as well as details of organizational restructuring, capacity planning and other internal operations.
The lawsuit alleges that Khurana was "handsomely rewarded" for his work, but was not satisfied. The former vice president, according to Meta, uploaded company documents to his personal Google Drive and Dropbox accounts, as well as to folders whose names contained the name of his new employer.
The main document mentioned in the lawsuit is an internal "Top Talent" table, which Meta believes was transferred from the company's systems to Khurana's work computer in the new organization.
Meta claims that shortly after Khurana's departure, at least eight employees listed in the "Top Talent" table left Meta to join his new employer.
The company filed five charges against Khurana: breach of contract, violation of trade secrets, violation of fiduciary duties, unfair enrichment and violation of California's computer crime laws.
Meta requires Khurana to pay damages to the company and return any cash or benefits received as a result of the alleged theft of trade secrets. At the time of filing the claim, Khurana or his lawyers had not responded in court.
"Meta takes such blatant violations seriously. We will continue to work to protect confidential information about businesses and employees," the company's representative said.
Meta recently sued its former vice president for "brazen, disloyal and dishonest behavior," meaning that he allegedly stole confidential company documents, which he then used to develop a cloud startup with artificial intelligence and lure his former colleagues to this startup.
Deepinder Singh Khurana has worked his way up to the rank of Vice President of Infrastructure for 12 years at the company. He left the ranks of Meta in June 2023 to take the position of senior vice president for supply chain operations at a stealth startup, the name of which was not disclosed in the lawsuit.
Khurana is accused of using his corporate computer to copy "a whole arsenal of proprietary, highly sensitive, confidential and non-public documents about the Meta business and its employees," including details about the company's data centers and artificial intelligence programs.
In addition, these documents, according to the lawsuit, contained information about Meta contracts with key suppliers and vendors, including information on prices and conditions, as well as details of organizational restructuring, capacity planning and other internal operations.
The lawsuit alleges that Khurana was "handsomely rewarded" for his work, but was not satisfied. The former vice president, according to Meta, uploaded company documents to his personal Google Drive and Dropbox accounts, as well as to folders whose names contained the name of his new employer.
The main document mentioned in the lawsuit is an internal "Top Talent" table, which Meta believes was transferred from the company's systems to Khurana's work computer in the new organization.
Meta claims that shortly after Khurana's departure, at least eight employees listed in the "Top Talent" table left Meta to join his new employer.
The company filed five charges against Khurana: breach of contract, violation of trade secrets, violation of fiduciary duties, unfair enrichment and violation of California's computer crime laws.
Meta requires Khurana to pay damages to the company and return any cash or benefits received as a result of the alleged theft of trade secrets. At the time of filing the claim, Khurana or his lawyers had not responded in court.
"Meta takes such blatant violations seriously. We will continue to work to protect confidential information about businesses and employees," the company's representative said.
