The United States Department of Justice announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested three Silicon Valley engineers who are suspected of leaking trade secrets from Google and other leading technology companies to Iran and other foreign entities early on Friday.
A federal indictment accused Samaneh Ghandali, her sister Sorour Ghandali, and her husband Mohammad Javad Khosravi of conspiring to commit trade secret theft, attempted trade secret theft, and obstruction of justice.
According to the indictment, Samaneh Ghandali, who previously worked for Google and later moved to another technology company, and Khosravi, who worked at a separate tech company, used their positions to gain access to confidential and sensitive information.
They then allegedly copied and transferred documents containing trade secrets related to processor security, cryptography, and other technologies to personal locations and third parties, including Iran.
Investigators claim that to conceal their actions, files and records were destroyed, methods were employed to evade detection, including manually photographing computer screens, and false affidavits were submitted to the affected companies.
Ghandali, Khosravi accessed trade secrets while in Iran
In August 2023, Google’s security systems identified Samaneh Ghandali conducting unusual activity and revoked her access to company resources. She then allegedly signed an affidavit claiming that she had not shared any confidential information with anyone outside of Google.
Despite the restriction, Ghandali and her husband allegedly continued attempts to retain confidential information, sought ways to delete communications, and photographed hundreds of screens containing sensitive information from Google and the unnamed company.
In December 2023, Samaneh Ghandali and Khosravi took multiple photographs of confidential information displayed on Khosravi’s company computer screen. The two travelled to Iran the next day and used a personal device associated with Samaneh Ghandali to access the photos and other information related to trade secrets.
The three defendants are scheduled to appear in court on Saturday.