Latest news with #KeithOBrien
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
New spying claims emerge in Silicon Valley corporate espionage scandal with Irish twist
A bitter fight over alleged corporate espionage involving two of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups took a new twist on Tuesday, after $12 billion (€10.5 billion) HR software company Deel claimed arch-rival Rippling had directed one of its employees to 'pilfer' the company's assets by posing as a customer. The latest claim comes after Rippling alleged earlier this year that a Dublin-based staff member had been spying on behalf of Deel. The employee, Keith O'Brien, locked himself into a bathroom and smashed his phone with an axe when confronted with allegations, according to his own testimony. In new legal filings seen by the Financial Times, Deel has countered by arguing that: 'Rippling has been actively engaged in a carefully co-ordinated espionage campaign, through which it infiltrated Deel's customer platform by fraudulent means and pilfered the company's most valuable proprietary assets.' The case has exposed the increasingly bitter rivalry between the two San Francisco-based groups, backed by some of the Valley's top investors, who are competing in the typically staid world of workforce management software. READ MORE The two tech unicorns are backed by some of America's most high-profile start-up investors. Rippling was valued at $16.8 billion last month. Deel has sought to dismiss Rippling's initial claims of directing corporate espionage and has filed a lawsuit in Delaware alleging its rival is trying to impugn Deel's reputation. Its latest filings were lodged on Tuesday morning as an amendment in that case. It alleges that Brett Alexander Johnson, Rippling's 'competitive intelligence manager', posed as a customer and accessed details of Deel's products and business practices over the course of six months. That information was in turn used to build one of Rippling's products, Deel alleges. Deel's investigation 'remains in its nascent stages' but the company nonetheless claims it has 'unequivocal proof' of Mr Johnson's alleged activities. It also alleges that Rippling chief executive Parker Conrad encouraged Mr Johnson's activities with the intention of uncovering 'the secrets by which Deel has achieved years of profitability'. Rippling originally filed a suit against Deel in California in March. Deel has filed motions to dismiss that and move the case to Ireland. It has separately filed a civil lawsuit against Rippling in Delaware. The latest allegations are an amendment to the Delaware suit. The dispute stems from Rippling's claim in a March court filing that Deel had cultivated Mr O'Brien, a Rippling employee, to steal confidential business information over a four-month period. 'The highest levels of Deel's leadership are implicated in a brazen corporate espionage scheme and they will be held accountable,' said Alex Spiro, legal counsel for Rippling, at the time. Mr O'Brien also said in his testimony that he was operating for Deel at the direction of chief executive Alex Bouaziz, Deel has suggested O'Brien, was in fact a whistleblower concerned with Rippling's business practices and claimed he provided testimony under duress. Rippling did not immediately respond to a request for comment. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
TechCrunch
19-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Deel wants Rippling to hand over any agreements involving paying the alleged spy
Deel has lobbed a new volley in the ongoing legal battle with rival HR tech startup Rippling. Deel filed a motion, containing a series of letters, asking the Irish court to make Rippling hand over information. In one letter, Deel wants unredacted versions of witness affidavits, including the famed one by former Rippling employee, Keith O'Brien. In a story full of plot twists that reads like a movie, O'Brien admitted in an Irish court to being a spy for Deel, according to the affidavit released by Rippling. Rippling filed a lawsuit against Deel in March that alleges misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference, unfair competition, and more, largely based on the spying allegations. Deel has since countersued, attempting to get Rippling's suit dismissed on a series of issues like jurisdiction, but also making its own allegations about Rippling. Deel alleges, for instance, that Rippling was also attempting to spy on Deel. In the letters publicly released Monday, Deel is pointing to an affidavit from Rippling employee, Vanessa Wu, formerly Rippling's general counsel. Much of the affidavit recounted what Wu recalled of alleged spy-related happenings and her take on various letters sent between the two sides' lawyers. But Deel points out Wu also testified that Rippling fired O'Brien and paid him a termination fee in exchange for him signing an agreement not to sue. Wu also testified, the affidavit said, that Rippling entered into a second agreement with O'Brien where Rippling 'agreed to contribute towards Mr. O'Brien's costs of these proceedings and to pay his reasonable out of pocket and legal expenses in connection with the cooperation to be provided under that agreement.' Deel wants a court to make Rippling turn over full unredacted versions of both of those agreements. It wants to tell anyone who will listen how unusual it is that an employee fired for cause winds up back on a company's payroll as a paid witness. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW Needless to say, both sides vehemently proclaim their own innocence while pointing fingers at the other. We'll have to wait and see what the court rules, but if it does make more of O'Brien's testimony and those termination agreements publicly available, we'll be reading.
BBC News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Scotland's cardinal scandal casts a long shadow as conclave begins
Scotland's cardinal scandal still casts a shadow as conclave begins 6 minutes ago Share Save Andrew Picken BBC News Scotland Share Save Reuters Cardinal Keith O'Brien helped elect Pope Benedict XVI at the 2005 conclave The voting process to elect a new Pope, which is getting under way in Rome, will be the second conclave in a row without a cardinal from Scotland. Experts believe Scotland is still in the "sin bin" with The Vatican after the country's last cardinal, Keith O'Brien, was forced to resign because of sexual misconduct allegations. In February 2013, Cardinal O'Brien was about to take part in the ancient tradition of electing a pope - and his enthusiasm was there for all to see. During an interview with BBC Scotland News he showed off the neat brown rectangular voting paper to be used in the secret ballot. But it would forever remain blank. Cardinal O'Brien, who at the time was the Catholic Church's most senior cleric in Britain, had been due to meet his peers to decide who was to replace Pope Benedict XVI - but he never made it on the plane to Rome. The 74-year-old Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh resigned days before the conclave following The Observer newspaper's allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards priests dating back to the 1980s. The scandal sparked global media attention and rocked the Catholic Church at a time when all eyes should have been on Rome's Sistine Chapel and the process that eventually saw Pope Francis elected. It was a seismic blow to Scotland's standing in the Catholic Church after decades of arguably punching above its weight. How many cardinals has Scotland had? Scotland has only ever had a handful of cardinals. The Reformation, which led to restrictions on practising Catholicism lasting centuries, was largely to blame. Even when the Catholic Church was formally re-established in Scotland in 1878, almost a century passed before such an appointment would be made again. The traditional red cardinal hat was handed to Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Gordon Gray. He took part in two conclaves - August and October 1978, which saw Popes John Paul I and John Paul II elected respectively. But Cardinal Gray's crowning moment was in 1982 when Scotland welcomed a serving Pope for the first time. On a roasting summer's day, an estimated 300,000 people gathered in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park for a Papal Mass celebrated by John Paul II. PA Media Pope John Paul II framed in the Popemobile arriving at Glasgow's Bellahouston Park in 1982 The next cardinal appointed in Scotland was Thomas Winning, a miner's son from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Earning the nickname "Cardinal Controversy" for his interventions on social issues – including clashing with Prime Minister Tony Blair on abortion – he died in 2001 without taking part in a conclave. His replacement was Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who had worked his way up the church's hierarchy before being proclaimed a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003. Cardinal O'Brien took part in the 2005 conclave which elected Pope Benedict XVI and then five years later welcomed the German-born pontiff to an open-air Mass, again at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. The clergyman, who was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, was on the path to retirement when the scandal that was to end his career broke in early 2013. Getty Images Cardinal Keith O'Brien welcomed Pope Benedict to Scotland in 2010 as Prince Philip looked on The Observer first reported the allegations of four individuals who accused Cardinal O'Brien of inappropriate sexual behaviour within the Diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. The Herald newspaper later suggested that the cardinal had used confession by young clerics as a device for sexual grooming. He contested the allegations, but in his resignation statement there was an oblique reference to the claims. "For any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended," he said. While the church had accepted his resignation from high office it allowed him to keep his cardinal moniker. After the public spotlight faded, he initially lived in a retirement home in East Lothian. He then moved to the north east of England where in March 2018, at the age of 80, he suffered a fall and later died. His Requiem Mass took place in Newcastle and his remains were laid to rest with his parents at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Edinburgh. Mario I Aguilar, Professor of Religion and Politics at St Andrews University, who wrote a biography of Pope Francis, says the Scottish cardinal scandal still looms large. "Scotland has one peccadillo and that is Cardinal O'Brien," he says. "Cardinal O'Brien was the only cardinal in the history of the church who was sacked, so we have a stain or whatever you want to call it. "There was scandal in Rome and therefore they wondered, what to do with the Scots? "It was clear that the Vatican had had enough and therefore they sent Archbishop Cushley to intervene." Leo Cushley was appointed Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh and promised a period of "reconciliation and healing" for Scotland's Catholics. Will there be another cardinal in Scotland? Stephen McGinty, a documentary producer and author of This Turbulent Priest, a biography of Cardinal Thomas Winning, agrees that the O'Brien scandal still casts a shadow. "People forget that at the time he was the highest ranking figure in the Catholic Church to be sucked into this kind of behaviour. It was a world scandal. "Scotland has a long tradition of Catholicism and up until O'Brien it was viewed well," he said. Mr McGinty said there had been a clear approach by The Vatican when it came to Scotland's cardinal status. "Cardinal Winning was told that the Vatican's viewpoint was that Scotland was separate from England and Wales so it should always get a red hat, rotating between Glasgow and Edinburgh depending on who had the most senior figure. "I have no doubt Scotland will get a red hat in the future, we're just in the sin bin at the moment." Getty Images Catholic worshipers attending a special mass at St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow after the announcement of the death of Pope Francis For the first time in history, fewer than half of the cardinals given a vote in the conclave to decide who will lead the world's 1.4 billion Roman Catholic will be European. This reflects the fact the growth areas of the church are in Africa and Asia. Professor Aguilar is less optimistic about the prospect of another Scottish cardinal any time soon. He said: "I don't see how someone is going to let Scotland in again when there are other growing places like in Africa, for example. "We are a very small country, there are five million Scots and 1.4 billion Catholics – you have to be realistic." If the case for appointing new cardinals under the next Pope is a numbers game then Scotland's case is not helped by its declining Catholic population. The last census showed, for the first time, that a majority of people in Scotland are not religious.
