“Our goal is to build a generational company,” says Deel CEO amid espionage case

Over the past month, nearly every headline about Deel has been negative. A suspected corporate mole. A former employee confessing to espionage. Executives evading process servers in Paris and London. A sprawling courtroom drama involving secret payments, destroyed phones, and claims of falsified police reports. All of it surrounding a $12 billion HR tech giant that was once considered one of the industry’s cleanest success stories.

And yet, last week — seemingly unfazed by the gravity of the accusations — Deel CEO and co-founder Alex Bouaziz declared as part of The Big Deel event: “Our goal is to build a generational company, one that both businesses and workers love.”

The event, tied to the launch of a major new suite of AI-powered HR and payroll products, received little fanfare. In ordinary times, it might have been front-page news in tech and business publications. But these are not ordinary times for Deel.

The company, which helps businesses manage payroll and compliance for international teams, is the subject of a lawsuit filed by rival Rippling in Ireland’s High Court. The central allegation: Deel secretly paid a Rippling payroll manager, Keith O’Brien, to act as a mole inside the company. According to O’Brien’s sworn affidavit, he received $6,s, and court enterprise customers. Internally, insiders say Deel is trying to ride out the legal storm without getting pulled into a public war of words.

But the question remains: Can you build a generational company while actively avoiding a courtroom?

For now, Deel is betting the answer is yes.

000 a month — beginning in November 2024 — to pass along sensitive company documents. One of the key payments, court documents show, was routed through the fintech app Revolut from a sender listed as “Alba Basha,” a name that matches the wife of Deel’s COO.

As Rippling expands its legal action to include Revolut and seeks personal data through the Irish courts, Deel’s leadership has remained silent. Bouaziz has not responded to the allegations publicly. According to reports, Deel’s top brass — including Bouaziz, Alex’s father, CFO Philippe Bouaziz, and the company’s general counsel — are now all believed to be in Dubai, complicating efforts by Rippling to serve them papers.

If the case wasn’t already surreal enough, O’Brien admitted to destroying his phone with an axe — an act for which he was not sanctioned, given the threats he claims to have received and his cooperation with investigators.

Meanwhile, Deel has opted to stay on script.

Its new AI offerings include tools for global workforce planning, employee engagement, compensation modeling, talent sourcing, and endpoint security — a comprehensive suite aimed at streamlining every layer of international HR. “Global workforce management systems are broken,” Bouaziz said in the press release. “Multiple tools for HR, IT, and payroll create inefficiencies and blind spots. Deel is changing that.”

The timing of the launch felt deliberate: a chance to change the narrative, to shift the spotlight back to product innovation and long-term vision. But it hasn’t worked — at least not yet. Most major coverage of the announcement was drowned out by the noise of the espionage case. The few positive stories that trickled out were quickly buried under headlines about court filings, extradition gaps, and data privacy battles with Revolut.

Still, Bouaziz appears defiant. If he’s worried, he’s not showing it. The company continues to add features, expand markets, and court enterprise customers. Internally, insiders say Deel is trying to ride out the legal storm without getting pulled into a public war of words.

But the question remains: Can you build a generational company while actively avoiding a courtroom?

For now, Deel is betting the answer is yes.