Alleged Tech Spy Says He Was Paid in Ethereum to Snoop for Rival Firm

An Irish man has admitted to accepting $5000 monthly in cryptocurrency to spy on payroll administration firm Rippling on behalf of its competitor, Deel, in a Hollywood-esque company espionage scheme that captured international media consideration and almost led him to flee to Dubai. 

In an affidavit, signed on April 1 and filed in Dublin courtroom, Keith O’Brien alleged he turned a company spy for Deel final September, whereas he was nonetheless an worker of Rippling. 

Between September 2024 and March 2025, O’Brien allegedly used Telegram to feed Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz details about his employer’s company technique and buyer insights “a number of occasions a day each workday” and generally on the weekends, in line with the sworn assertion. 

“[Deel’s CEO] recommended that I stay at Rippling and develop into a ‘spy’ for Deel, and I recall him particularly mentioning James Bond,” O’Brien stated within the assertion. 

Deel executives paid O’Brien $5,000 in Ethereum monthly for the espionage, telling their mole the cost methodology “would depart no hint,” in line with O’Brien. The self-confessed spy stated he reluctantly acquired the tokens in his Blockchain.com pockets, the place he would liquify the funds and switch them to his checking account as a result of he was “involved about cryptocurrency fluctuation.”

The admission comes a couple of weeks after Rippling sued Deel in a federal courtroom in San Francisco for allegedly orchestrating “a calculated and illegal company espionage scheme.” The authorized drama marks the most recent face-off between the HR software program firms, which every notched valuations north of $10 billion a couple of years in the past by specializing in options for managing distant work forces which have develop into much less frequent within the post-pandemic period. 

The lawsuit additionally comes because the crypto business is making an attempt to rehabilitate its picture, pushing again in opposition to widespread narratives that assert digital belongings are favored by unhealthy actors searching for to hide their crimes. 

Disclosure: DASTAN, Decrypt’s father or mother firm, was a consumer of Deel, and now holds a contract with Rippling.

O’Brien stated in his assertion that Bouaziz at occasions requested him to seek for particular info pertaining to Rippling’s enterprise by the agency’s Slack, Salesforce and Google Drive. The chief ordered O’Brien to plug search phrases similar to “Tom brady” “iran” “tinybird” and “sanctioned international locations” into Rippling’s inner techniques, in line with the affidavit. 

The previous spy additionally alleged that Bouaziz appeared notably interested by details about Deel clients who had signed up for product demonstrations from Rippling. 

The alleged scheme led to mid-March, when an unbiased solicitor served O’Brien a courtroom order at Rippling’s Dublin workplace requiring inspection of the worker’s gadgets. That evening, Deel’s legal professionals spoke with O’Brien to discover the opportunity of him fleeing together with his household to Dubai.

Just a few days after being served, O’Brien additionally carried out a manufacturing facility reset on his cellphone, lower it up with an axe and threw it down a drain at his mom’s home on the path of Deel’s legal professionals.

Nevertheless, he determined to admit to his alleged crimes almost two weeks later. 

“I spotted that I used to be harming myself and my household to guard Deel,” he stated within the assertion. “I used to be involved, and I’m nonetheless involved about how rich and highly effective [Deel’s executives] are, however…I need to do what I can to start out making amends and righting these wrongs.”

Edited by James Rubin