Meta Platforms has sued one of its former vice presidents for what it called a “stunning” betrayal in his defection to a “stealth” AI cloud computing start-up.
Dipinder Singh Khurana, also known as TS Khurana, had worked at Meta for 12 years and rose to a senior position at the company as VP of infrastructure, but violated his contract as he was preparing to leave by taking a “trove of proprietary, highly sensitive, confidential and non-public documents about Meta’s business and employees”, according to the complaint filed on 29 February in California state court in Contra Costa County.
Meta alleges that in “brazenly disloyal” conduct, Khurana uploaded documents related to employee pay and performance, as well as non-public business contracts, to his personal Google Drive and Dropbox accounts just before leaving the company. Meta says at least eight of the employees who were listed on the documents Khurana uploaded then left Meta to go work at Khurana’s new company last year.
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“Khurana’s conduct while leaving Meta, and since then, reflects an utter disregard for his contractual and legal obligations,” the lawsuit reads. A Meta spokesman said the company “takes this kind of egregious misconduct seriously. We will continue working to protect confidential business and employee information.”
Khurana did not immediately respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment. — (c) 2024 Bloomberg LP