Thursday, July 6, 2006

Three people have been charged in the United States for trying to sell Coca-Cola trade secrets to PepsiCo. The main suspect, administration worker Joya Williams, tried to sell documents and a liquid sample of a new Coca-Cola product to the rival, prosecutors said.

When being offered to buy the trade secrets in May, PepsiCo immediately contacted the FBI. A person calling himself "Dirk" wanted to meet a PepsiCo representative at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta in June. Instead, an undercover FBI agent met with Ibrahim Dimson, the man posing as "Dirk".

During the meeting it is said the undercover agent gave Dimson $30,000 for the trade secrets and promised to pay an additional $45,000 later. Then later that month, another agent later offered to buy the remaining trade secrets for $1.5m. The same day the suspects were arrested.

A third person, Edmund Duhaney, was also arrested.

PepsiCo said in a statement that "competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal".

Coca-Cola said that it would review its security measures. The corporation's top-secret formula of its main drink was not affected in this security breach.

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