The U.S This article explores indicted google engineers. . has indicted two former Google engineers and one of their spouses for allegedly stealing trade secrets from the internet behemoth and other tech companies and sending them to unapproved places, such as Iran.

The charges against Samaneh Ghandali, 41, her husband Mohammadjavad Khosravi (also known as Mohammad Khosravi), 40, and her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, include conspiracy to steal trade secrets from Google and other prominent tech companies, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice. The three defendants, who are all residents of San Jose and are Iranian nationals, were taken into custody on Thursday and appeared in federal district court in the California city for the first time. In line with the U.S.

The Ghandali sisters were employed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) at Google before joining Company 3, a different technology company. According to reports, Khosravi worked for a different business (referred to as Company 2). Each of the three of them secured employment in the field of mobile computer processors.

The DoJ stated in a press release that the defendants "used their employment to obtain access to confidential and sensitive information as part of the alleged scheme to commit trade secret theft."

"The defendants then stole sensitive and private documents, including trade secrets pertaining to cryptography, processor security, and other technologies, from Google and other tech companies to unapproved third-party and private locations, including work devices connected to each other's employers, and to Iran." According to the department, Samaneh Ghandali moved hundreds of files, including Google trade secrets, to a third-party communications platform, specifically to channels that contained the first names of each defendant. While employed by Google, Soroor Ghandali is also accused of leaking a large number of files pertaining to the company that contained trade secrets to the same channels.

Following that, the trade secret files were copied to various personal devices, Khosravi's work device, and a work device that Company 3 had given to Soroor Ghandali. In order to hide their activities, the defendants then submitted fictitious, signed affidavits, deleted the exfiltrated files from electronic devices, and took pictures of the screens that contained the documents by hand rather than transferring them via the messaging app. Additionally, Samaneh Ghandali and Khosravi looked up information online and went to websites that discussed erasing data, including communications.

These included questions about how long a cellular service provider stored "messages to print out for court." Meanwhile, for an undisclosed period of months, the couple allegedly kept using Google trade secrets that were saved on their personal devices to manually take pictures of hundreds of computer screens containing sensitive data belonging to both Google and Company 2. On the evening before the two of them left for Iran in December 2023, Samaneh Ghandali is also accused of manually taking with her cell phone roughly 24 pictures of Khosravi's work computer screen that contained Company 2 trade secret information.

Samaneh Ghandali's personal device in Iran was then used to access these photos.

For each count of trade secret theft, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; for the count of obstruction of justice, the maximum sentence is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Less than a month has passed since Linwei Ding, another former Google engineer, was found guilty in the United States of stealing thousands of the company's private documents in order to launch a startup in China.