Rippling-Deel scandal deepens as alleged mole is named in espionage case
Keith O’Brien, a Rippling employee accused of leaking trade secrets to Deel, was named in court as new details emerge about the alleged corporate espionage scheme.
The high-stakes legal battle between human resources software giants Rippling and Deel has taken a dramatic turn, with new allegations surfacing about the extent of the alleged corporate espionage. Rippling, valued at $13 billion, has accused Deel of orchestrating a covert spying operation that involved the theft of trade secrets, stolen customer information, and internal communications. The case, which has already rocked the business software industry, now has a named suspect at its center: Keith O’Brien, a payroll compliance manager in Rippling’s Dublin office.
Court filings reveal that Rippling set up a so-called “honeypot” trap to confirm its suspicions, allegedly proving that Deel’s top executives were actively directing O’Brien’s activities. According to Rippling, O’Brien began feeding sensitive data to Deel in November, providing internal messages and proprietary customer information to help its competitor undercut sales efforts and poach employees. When confronted with a court order, O’Brien reportedly fled the scene after locking himself in an office bathroom and refusing to surrender his phone.
Rippling’s counsel disclosed the identity of the employee based in the Dublin office in the High Court last Friday, with reporting restrictions on this motion being lifted on Tuesday, allowing Rippling to publicly name O’Brien as the alleged mole inside its organization. The case, which had initially been filed in the U.S., has since spilled across multiple jurisdictions, underscoring the global nature of the dispute.
In its lawsuit, Rippling claims it uncovered Deel’s involvement by crafting a deceptive internal document referencing a nonexistent Slack channel called “d-defectors.” The company then sent the letter to a select few Deel executives, including Philippe Bouaziz, father of CEO Alex Bouaziz, and the company’s chairman and CFO, as well as Spiros Komis, Deel’s Head of U.S. Legal. Within hours, Rippling alleges, O’Brien searched for the fake channel for the first time—allegedly proving Deel’s senior leadership was actively directing the operation.
Deel has strongly denied any wrongdoing. A company spokesperson responded to the allegations by linking the lawsuit to Rippling’s own legal troubles. “Weeks after Rippling is accused of violating sanctions law in Russia and seeding falsehoods about Deel, Rippling is trying to shift the narrative with these sensationalized claims,” Deel said in a statement. “We deny all legal wrongdoing and look forward to asserting our counterclaims.”
A Rippling spokesperson said in response: “Rippling has never been accused of nor violated sanctions laws, and unlike Deel, we never worked with Russian banks to help clients avoid sanctions.”
Deel, which was founded in 2019 and has grown into a global leader in remote workforce management, is currently valued at $12 billion. The company has faced other legal scrutiny, including a Florida lawsuit alleging it facilitated money laundering and processed payments to Russia in potential violation of U.S. sanctions. Deel has denied these allegations as well.
