FX.co ★ AlexGator | Across the Web

The buyer who agreed to pay $1.5 million for stolen company secrets was actually an undercover FBI agent. By then, the intended customer had already helped expose the scheme. In May 2006, Pepsi received a letter offering confidential information about Coca Cola products for money. Pepsi alerted its rival, which contacted the FBI. Investigators traced the scheme to Joya Williams, an executive administrative assistant at Coca Cola, and two accomplices, Ibrahim Dimson and Edmund Duhaney. The materials included confidential documents and a sample of a product still under development. During the investigation, an undercover agent bought some of the stolen materials and later negotiated a $1.5 million deal for additional secrets. That figure came from the FBI sting, rather than a completed agreement with Pepsi. On July 5, 2006, all three were arrested on the day the larger transaction was supposed to happen.