Tesla has filed a lawsuit against a former employee who allegedly stole trade secrets.
According to the suit (PDF), Alex Khatilov was hired by Tesla and within three days he “brazenly stole thousands of trade secret computer scripts” that took the company years to develop.
The story starts on December 28, 2020 when Tesla hired Khatilov as a software automation engineer. Shortly after taking the job, Tesla says Khatilov began stealing thousands of highly confidential files from their internal network and transferred them to his personal Dropbox account.
Also Read: Tesla Suing Rivian For Alleged Employee Poaching And Trade Secret Theft
The company says the scripts “automate a broad range of functions throughout Tesla’s business” and only a few people have access to them. Khatilov was one of them and Tesla alleges he used that access to “downloaded files unrelated to his job.”
Tesla’s information security team discovered the downloads on January 6th and confronted Khatilov the same day. According to the company, Khatilov initially claimed he only “transferred a couple personal administrative documents” to his Dropbox account.
When investigators asked to see his Dropbox account, Khatilov reportedly gave them access and the company found “thousands and thousands of Tesla’s confidential computer scripts.” When confronted with this, Khatilov allegedly said he “forgot” about those files. The company also claims Khatilov “brazenly attempted to destroy the evidence by hurriedly deleting the Dropbox client and other files during the beginning of the interview, when investigators were attempting to remotely access his computer.”
Tesla says they don’t know if Khatilov took additional files or if he made copies of the files in his Dropbox account. The company is also unaware if the files were sent to anyone.
As a result of the investigation, Tesla has sued Khatilov for breach of contract as well as well as violating two trade secret acts. The company is seeking the return of all their equipment and information as well as the identity of anyone who was given access to their trade secrets. Tesla also wants compensatory and exemplary damages as well as attorneys’ fees and the cost of the investigation.
H/T to The Verge
