A Coca-Cola employee offered to sell company secrets to Pepsi for 1.5 million dollars. Pepsi responded by notifying Coca-Cola.
As high-ranking Coca-Cola employees, Joya Williams and her accomplice Ibrahim Dimson had access to many documents about Coca-Cola drinks and future projects. Williams and Dimson so called Pepsi and offered to sell all the executive secrets for $1.5 million.
Unfortunately for Williams and Dimson, Pepsi executives reported them to Coca-Cola and the FBI. The FBI then sent undercover agents posing as Pepsi executives. Those FBI undercover agents lured Williams and Dimson with a portion of the $1.5 million demanded and forced them to hand over the documents and the vial containing the chemical. Williams and Dimson were caught red-handed.
The FBI presented the proof of payment and the secrets to the court as irrefutable evidence. In 2007, Williams was sentenced to eight years in prison and Dimson to five years in prison.
A Pepsi spokesperson said, “We did what any responsible company would do. Competition can be fierce, but it also has to be fair and legal,” according to CNN.
Eight years in prison is the sentence given to Joya Williams, the former Coca-Cola employee and five years to his accomplice, Ibrahim Dimson, who had attempted to sell the secret formula of the famous drink to competitor Pepsi without taking into account that, in addition to patents, the law also protects business secrets.
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