An Irish man who confessed to spying for payroll agency Deel whereas working for rival firm Rippling claims to have been paid in crypto as a part of an alleged James Bond-inspired plot.
Rippling filed a lawsuit towards Deel in March 2025, accusing the agency of misappropriation of commerce secrets and techniques, racketeering, and tortious interference. Now, an affidavit filed in Eire’s excessive court docket has revealed the confession of Keith O’Brien, the alleged spy concerned.
O’Brien claims he spied for Deel after its CEO, Alex Bouaziz, provided him roughly €5,000 ($5,500) to acquire info on Ripplings’s “way of doing things” in a gathering the place James Bond was talked about.
He accepted and claims he acquired his first cost earlier than Alex’s father, Deel’s CFO Philippe Bouaziz, advised him that “future payments would be made via cryptocurrency, as this method would leave ‘no trace.’”
O’Brien says he was paid in Ethereum to his blockchain.com pockets and subsequently transformed the funds to fiat as a result of crypto’s fluctuating worth.
One in all O’Brien’s statements inside the affidavit detailing alleged requests from Alex Bouaziz.
Varied paperwork had been allegedly accessed from Rippling, together with challenge roadmaps and the agency’s techniques for positioning its product as a superior different to Deel.
Nevertheless, after months of spying, a solicitor served O’Brien a court docket order, main him to suspect that Rippling had arrange a entice to catch him out. Deel labored to maintain O’Brien out of authorized bother whereas asking him to take care of that Rippling had facilitated sanctioned Russian funds.
O’Brien was nervous about Alex Bouaziz’s wealth and energy and stated, “I realised that I was harming myself and my family to protect Deel,” and subsequently got here clear in regards to the alleged spy deal.
He additionally says he labored for Rippling earlier than making use of unsuccessfully for a job at Deel. After staying in contact with Deel’s CEO, he claims he let Alex know he was planning to depart Rippling earlier than Alex provided him the spy alternative.
Protos has reached out to Rippling and Deel for touch upon the case and can replace this text if we hear something again.
