HE NERDED OUT OVER PAYROLL TECHNOLOGY. NOW, HE'S ACCUSED OF CORPORATE SPYING

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Keith O'Brien, a global payroll-compliance manager at Rippling, a business software startup, has been accused of stealing trade secrets for a rival, Deel, as part of a spying operation. O'Brien allegedly searched for 'deel' an average of 23 times a day across Rippling's internal systems, accessing message boards that had nothing to do with his job in a mode that hid his presence from others. Rippling claims that it set a honeypot trap that proved O'Brien was being directed by Deel's top executives. O'Brien fleed Rippling's offices with his smartphone after being accused of being a corporate spy despite being told that failing to turn over the device violated a court order and could result in imprisonment.