Ex-Employee of the Coca-Cola Company and Co-Defendant Sentenced for Stealing Trade Secrets

25/05/07 Joya Williams, 42, of Norcross, Ga., and Ibrahim Dimson, 31, of Bronx, N.Y., were sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester on a charge of conspiring to steal and sell trade secrets of The Coca-Cola Company.

"As the market becomes more global, the need to protect intellectual property becomes even more vital to protecting American companies and our economic growth," stated U.S. Attorney Nahmias. "This case is an example of good corporate citizenship leading to a successful prosecution, and that unlawfully gaining a competitive advantage by stealing another's trade secrets can lead straight to federal prison."

Williams was sentenced to eight years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution. Dimson was sentenced to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and also ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution. Dimson pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge on Oct. 23, 2006. After a seven-day jury trial, Williams was convicted of these charges on Feb. 2, 2007. Another co-defendant in the case, Edmund Duhaney, 43, of Decatur, Ga., will be sentenced at a later date.

On May 19, 2006, PepsiCo provided to Coca Cola headquarters in Atlanta a copy of a letter mailed to PepsiCo in Purchase, N.Y., in an official Coca Cola business envelope. The letter, postmarked from the Bronx, N.Y., was from an individual identifying himself as "Dirk," who claimed to be employed at a high level with Coca Cola and offered "very detailed and confidential information." Coca Cola immediately contacted the FBI and an undercover FBI investigation began. FBI investigation determined that "Dirk" was Dimson. Subsequent investigation revealed that another "go-between" in the attempted deal was Edmund Duhaney. Dimson and Duhaney both later pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to steal and sell trade secrets. Duhaney testified at trial.

Phone records and further investigation showed the source of the information was in fact Ms. Williams, at the time an Executive Administrative Assistant at Coke in Atlanta, who had access to the information and materials described by "Dirk." Evidence at trial showed that "Dirk" provided to an FBI undercover agent, among other things, 14 pages of Coca Cola document with logo-marked "Classified - Confidential" and "CLASSIFIED - Highly Restricted." The company confirmed that these documents were valid and highly confidential and contained highly classified proprietary information -- trade secrets. Almost immediately, "Dirk" requested $10,000 for the documents sent as proof, emailing, in part, "I must see some type of seriousness on there part, if I'm to maintain the faith to continue with you guys, or if I need to look towards another entity that will be interested in a relationship with me. I have the capability of obtaining information per request. I have information that's all Classified and extremely confidential, that only a handful of the top execs at my company have seen. I can even provide actual products and packaging of certain products, that no eye has seen, outside of maybe 5 top execs. I need to know today, if I have a serious partner or not. If the good faith moneys is in my account by Monday, that will be an indication of your seriousness."

Later "Dirk" produced other documents, provided by Joya Williams, that Coca Cola confirmed were valid trade secrets of Coca Cola and highly confidential, and was to receive $5,000 for the documents received as good faith money for additional purchases. "Dirk" also agreed to an amount of $75,000 for the purchase of a highly confidential product sample from a new Coca Cola project.

Meanwhile, with the cooperation and assistance of Coca Cola security personnel, video surveillance presented at trial showed Ms. Williams at her desk going through a looseleaf file looking for documents and stuffing them into bags. The evidence at trial also showed a glass container with a white label, which resembled the description of a new Coca Cola product sample falling out of her personal bag. Coca Cola later verified the sample, was genuine and is in fact a product being developed by the company.

On June 16, 2006, a FBI undercover agent met with Dimson ("Dirk") at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, with "Dirk" providing a brown Armani Exchange bag containing one manila envelope with documents marked "highly confidential" and one glass bottle with a white label containing a liquid product sample. The undercover agent paid "Dirk" $30,000 in $100 and $50 bills of United States currency contained within a yellow Girl Scout cookie box with the agreement that after successful testing of the product sample, an additional $45,000 would be paid. After leaving, Dimson met in a rental car with Edmund Duhaney and they drove to Duhaney's home in Decatur. Call records showed that Duhaney was in contact with Dimson and Williams on that day. On June 27, 2006, an undercover FBI agent offered to buy the remaining trade secret items for $1.5 million from "Dirk." The same day a bank account was opened under the name of Noblehouse Group, LLC, and the address used on the account was that of Duhaney's Decatur residence. The purpose of the account was to facilitate the transfer of the $1.5 million. Williams, Dimson, and Duhaney were arrested in Atlanta without incident on July 5, 2006, the day the $1.5 million deal was to take place.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bjay Pak, and Randy S. Chartash prosecuted the case.