Deel replies to Rippling's espionage allegations
The legal battle between HR software unicorns Deel and Rippling escalated on Friday, with Deel suing Rippling for alleged defamation, libel, and deceptive trade practices.
The big picture: This conflict gets more personal with each court filing.
Catch up quick: Rippling initially sued Deel last month, essentially claiming that Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz had hired a spy inside of Rippling.
That individual, Keith O'Brien, confessed to the caper in an affidavit made public by an Irish court.
Deel denied the claims, claiming that they were designed to deflect allegations that Rippling had violated sanctions about payments into Russia.
Driving the news: Deel's lawsuit seeks to put a new spin on O'Brien, who informed Irish authorities about Rippling's alleged Russia sanctions violations, but then later said he only did so at Deel's behest.
Deel claims that Rippling retaliated against O'Brien, ""traumatizing" him to the point that he lied about Deel in the affidavit.
This is purportedly based on contemporaneous emails, although the full contents of those emails aren't shared in the lawsuit.
Zoon in: Deel also alleges that Rippling placed an insider within Deel, and solicited other Deel employees to share confidential information.
The lawsuit also claims that Rippling isn't tax compliant and defrauds both employees and customers.
It also dedicates several pages to past troubles that Rippling CEO Parker Conrad had with his former company, Zenefits.
What's at stake: Rippling has raised $1.4 billion from VC firms like Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins, most recently at a $13.5 billion valuation.
Deel has raised around $685 million from firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital, most recently at a $12 billion valuation.
Rippling's reply: Parker Conrad reacted to the new lawsuit with a series of tweets, arguing that Deel never explicitly disputes that Bouaziz recruited O'Brien to spy.
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