Alleged Tech Spy Says He Was Paid in Ethereum to Snoop for Rival Agency – Decrypt

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 court docket, Keith O’Brien alleged he grew to become 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 instances a day each workday” and generally on the weekends, based on the sworn assertion. 

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

Deel executives paid O’Brien $5,000 in Ethereum monthly for the espionage, telling their mole the fee technique “would depart no hint,” based on O’Brien. The self-confessed spy mentioned he reluctantly obtained 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 court docket in San Francisco for allegedly orchestrating “a calculated and illegal company espionage scheme.” The authorized drama marks the newest 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 turn into much less frequent within the post-pandemic period. 

The lawsuit additionally comes because the crypto business is attempting to rehabilitate its picture, pushing again towards fashionable narratives that assert digital belongings are favored by dangerous actors in search of to hide their crimes. 

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

O’Brien mentioned in his assertion that Bouaziz at instances requested him to seek for particular data pertaining to Rippling’s enterprise via the agency’s Slack, Salesforce and Google Drive. The chief ordered O’Brien to plug search phrases resembling “Tom brady” “iran” “tinybird” and “sanctioned international locations” into Rippling’s inner techniques, based on the affidavit. 

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

The alleged scheme led to mid-March, when an impartial solicitor served O’Brien a court docket 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 potential for him fleeing together with his household to Dubai.

A number of days after being served, O’Brien additionally carried out a manufacturing facility reset on his telephone, reduce it up with an axe and threw it down a drain at his mom’s home on the course of Deel’s legal professionals.

Nonetheless, 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 mentioned 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 wish to do what I can to begin making amends and righting these wrongs.”

Edited by James Rubin