Two competitors in the payroll, HR, and payments sector are headed to a court battle, it seems. Via X, Rippling CEO Parker Conrad announced they had filed a lawsuit alleging that Deel cultivated a spy at his company who allegedly stole company information in a “long running trade secret theft.”
Conrad claims:
“The spy searched “deel” in our systems 23 times per day on avg, letting him spy on Deel’s own customers who were considering a switch to Rippling.”
The filing shares that Rippling created a “honeypot” trap to uncover the alleged subterfuge. Apparently a Slack channel was created ostensibly for ex-Deel employees to uncover the infiltrator. The complaint states: “The results of Rippling’s honeypot operation left no doubt: Deel’s senior leadership or those closest to them were directing DS’s [the alleged spy] actions, in furtherance of Deel’s business interests and to harm Rippling and its customers.”
The drama continues because Rippling goes on to claim that the alleged spy “locked himself in an office bathroom when confronted by court appointed solicators on Friday.”
In a blog post, Rippling claimed:
“Deel allegedly obtained an unfair and illegal advantage to:
- Intercept and counter Rippling’s sales efforts by learning which customers Rippling was pitching in real time.
- Preemptively retain customers who were considering switching from Deel to Rippling.
- Poach Rippling employees by using stolen contact details, including private phone numbers, to aggressively recruit them – sometimes making offers without even interviewing the candidate.
- Distort media narratives by misusing confidential Rippling information to counter negative press about Deel’s own misconduct.”
“The scale of this corporate espionage is breathtaking – permeating their sales, marketing, recruiting and even communications operations,” declared Vanessa Wu, GC of Rippling.