BAY AREA, CA — Three Silicon Valley engineers — including two former Google employees— are scheduled to appear in court Friday following a federal grand jury indictment charging them with conspiring to steal trade secrets from Google and other tech companies.
Samaneh Ghandali, 41, Mohammadjavad Khosrav, 40, and Soroor Ghandali, 32, all of San Jose, were arrested Thursday. They made their initial appearance in San Jose federal court the same day and are scheduled to return today after 1 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Susan van Keulen for a hearing to determine the appointment of counsel.
Samaneh Ghandali and her sister Soroor Ghandali, worked at Google before moving to another technology company identified in court records as “Company 3,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California. Khosravi worked for a separate firm identified as “Company 2.” He is also known as Mohammad Khosrav and is married to Samaneh Ghandali, according to the news release.
Prosecutors argue the three used their positions to access confidential information related to mobile processor security, cryptography, and other advanced technologies, then transferred sensitive files to personal accounts, third-party platforms, and devices associated with each other’s employers. Prosecutors suspect that some data was accessed while the defendants were in Iran, according to news release.
U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian, whose office is prosecuting the case, said in the statement that the three “exploited their positions to steal confidential trade secrets from their employers.”
According to a statement by prosecutors, investigators suspect hundreds of Google files were transferred to private communication channels labeled with the defendants’ names and later copied to personal devices and work devices tied to the other companies.
Prosecutors also suspect that the defendants attempted to conceal their actions by submitting false affidavits to their employers, deleting electronic records, and photographing computer screens rather than directly transferring files.
After Google’s internal security systems flagged the activity in August 2023 and revoked her access to “company resources,” prosecutors said Samaneh Ghandali signed a statement denying she had shared confidential information. Investigators said they suspect she and Khosravi later searched for ways to delete communications and continued accessing stored trade secret materials, according to the news release.
On the night before traveling to Iran in December 2023, prosecutors said Samaneh Ghandali photographed trade secret information displayed on Khosravi’s work computer. While abroad, a personal device linked to her account accessed those images, according to prosecutors.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the charges.
“Protecting Silicon Valley innovation and defending the groundbreaking technologies that drive our economy and national security is a top priority for the FBI,” the FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said in the news release. “We will continue to work with our private sector partners to hold accountable anyone who seeks to unlawfully exploit American ingenuity.”
A conviction could carry up to 10 years in prison for trade secret-related counts, and up to 20 years for obstruction of justice.