Spy in Rippling–Deel case claims he’s being followed

The man at the center of Silicon Valley’s most lurid corporate espionage scandal now says he’s being stalked.

Keith O’Brien, an Irish national who admitted in April to spying on behalf of $12 billion HR tech startup Deel, has been granted a restraining order in Ireland after claiming he was being followed by unknown men in a black SUV - sometimes accompanied by a large dog - and, on at least one occasion, a separate group in a gray Skoda Superb. In court documents, O’Brien alleged that the surveillance had created “emotional and psychological” damage for himself and his family, leaving him fearful for the safety of his wife and four children.

O’Brien’s story might sound like something out of a bad spy thriller. But it has become the most talked-about subplot in a sprawling legal feud between Deel and its archrival Rippling, a dispute that has spiraled far beyond the typical confines of corporate competition. At the heart of the battle are mutual accusations of hacking, deception, and criminal conspiracy.

O’Brien has confessed to being paid €5,000 a month to pass internal Rippling documents to Deel while working as an embedded mole, until he was caught by Rippling, which had set up a honeypot Slack channel. According to his affidavit, he attempted to destroy his phone by flushing it down the toilet, then smashing it and discarding the pieces.

Rippling, which is suing Deel in U.S. federal court, has identified O’Brien as its star witness. The company is also covering his legal and related expenses, its attorneys acknowledged in court. Deel, meanwhile, has countersued, claiming Rippling orchestrated its own espionage operation by embedding a fake client inside Deel’s customer platform for six months.

The situation has only escalated. In a recent amended complaint filed in California, Rippling accused Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz and his father Philippe, who is also Deel’s CFO and board chairman, of running what it called the “Bouaziz Racketeering Enterprise.” The complaint alleges that the two oversaw a covert scheme to infiltrate not just Rippling but at least three other competitors, stealing confidential customer and sales data and coordinating directly with insiders like O’Brien using burner phones and crypto payments.

Deel denies all wrongdoing and insists it has evidence showing Rippling accessed its internal systems more than 50 times. In its countersuit, Deel claims Rippling tried to reverse-engineer its global Employer of Record product in an attempt to close a growing competitive gap.

O’Brien’s new claims of being followed add yet another bizarre twist. While he and his lawyer speculate the surveillance may be linked to his testimony against Deel, they concede they have no direct evidence implicating the company. Deel has flatly denied any connection to the men in the black SUV.

For now, the legal fight shows no sign of resolution. With federal subpoenas still pending, and both companies lobbing increasingly serious allegations, Silicon Valley’s most personal startup rivalry seems poised to get even messier.