Three Iranian nationals who worked in Silicon Valley have been charged with stealing trade secrets, including Google’s confidential processor data, and transferring the information to Iran
A federal grand jury in the US has charged three Silicon Valley engineers with secretly taking confidential technical information from multiple tech firms, including Google, and transferring the data to Iran, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.
Court documents identify the three as Iranian nationals facing counts of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of official proceedings.
Samaneh Ghandali, 41; Soroor Ghandali, 32; and Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40, were arrested on Thursday and appeared before a federal district court in San Jose, California. Both sisters previously worked at Google before joining another firm, while Khosravi was employed at a separate unidentified company.
Prosecutors outline alleged data theft and transfer
Prosecutors allege the trio used their positions at companies working on mobile computer processors to obtain highly sensitive information, including material related to data security, and then transferred it to Iran. Officials have not identified the specific recipients inside the country.
Their alleged conduct, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said, “reflect a calculated betrayal of trust by individuals accused of stealing trade secrets from the very tech companies that employed them.”
According to investigators, the Ghandali sisters stole “hundreds of files”, including confidential Google trade secrets tied to processors used in Pixel smartphones. Prosecutors say the material was copied to personal devices and third-party communications platforms.
The former engineers allegedly attempted to hide their actions by deleting exfiltrated files and other electronic records. Google’s internal security systems detected Samaneh Ghandali’s activity, and the company revoked her access to its systems in August 2023.
The Justice Department said Ghandali and Khosravi travelled to Iran in December 2023, and during that period a personal device linked to her accessed the stolen documents.
The three defendants were scheduled to appear before a US Magistrate Judge on Friday.
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