Meta Sues Former Employee Over Alleged Stolen Documents

Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg News

The Meta logo on a laptop computer in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Meta Platforms Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on July 27. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. sued one of its former vice presidents for what it called a “stunning” betrayal in his defection to a “stealth” AI cloud computing startup.

Dipinder Singh Khurana, also known as T.S. Khurana, had worked at Meta for 12 years and rose to a senior position at the company as VP of infrastructure, but violated his contract as he was preparing to leave by taking a “trove of proprietary, highly sensitive, confidential, and non-public documents about Meta’s business and employees,” according to the complaint filed Feb. 29 in California state court in Contra Costa County, and which has not been previously reported.

Meta alleges that in “brazenly disloyal” conduct, Khurana uploaded documents related to employee pay and performance, as well as non-public business contracts, to his personal Google Drive and Dropbox accounts just before leaving the company. Meta says at least eight of the employees who were listed on the documents Khurana uploaded then left Meta to go work at Khurana’s new company last year.

“Khurana’s conduct while leaving Meta, and since then, reflects an utter disregard for his contractual and legal obligations,” the lawsuit reads. A Meta spokesperson said the company “takes this kind of egregious misconduct seriously. We will continue working to protect confidential business and employee information.”

Khurana did not immediately respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment.