Three engineers indicted for stealing Google trade secrets and funneling data to Iran

A federal grand jury has indicted three former engineers for stealing trade secrets from Google and other tech companies and sending the information to Iran, according to the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.

Samaneh Ghandali, 41, her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, and Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40, were charged Thursday. The allegations describe a methodical theft operation: hundreds of files, including company trade secrets related to processor security and cryptography, transferred to a third-party communications platform and copied to personal devices.

This is not a story about careless data handling. It is a story about deliberate espionage aimed at one of America's most strategic adversaries.

A Calculated Operation

The indictment paints a picture of premeditation at every stage. The Ghandali sisters allegedly transferred hundreds of files containing trade secrets to an outside platform. The stolen information was then copied to Soroor Ghandali's personal devices and to her work device at another company. It was also copied to Khosravi's work device at a separate employer.

Google caught wind of the activity. In August 2023, the company flagged Samaneh Ghandali's behavior and restricted her access. Her response, according to the indictment, was not to stop. She signed an affidavit stating she had not shared confidential information outside the company, as The Hill reports.

She allegedly lied.

After the flag, Samaneh Ghandali and Khosravi allegedly began researching how to delete communications and data. They also shifted tactics, manually photographing computer screens displaying trade secrets from both Google and Khosravi's employer. When digital doors closed, they picked up cameras.

In December 2023, Samaneh Ghandali and Khosravi traveled to Iran, where they accessed the photographs and other confidential information from Khosravi's employer, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

The FBI Responds

FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani did not mince words in his Thursday statement:

"The alleged actions outlined in this indictment reflect a calculated betrayal of trust by individuals accused of stealing trade secrets from the very tech companies that employed them."

Virmani emphasized the lengths the defendants allegedly went to in order to cover their tracks:

"According to the allegations, the method in which confidential data was transferred by the defendants involved deliberate steps to evade detection and conceal their identities."

He framed the case in national security terms, calling the protection of Silicon Valley innovation "a top priority for the FBI."

A Pattern, Not an Anomaly

This is the second time in recent weeks that former Google employees have been charged with stealing the company's trade secrets. In late January, an ex-Google engineer was convicted of stealing AI-related trade secrets from the tech giant for Chinese companies.

Two cases. Two adversarial nations. The same pipeline: American companies build transformative technology, and foreign governments attempt to siphon it through employees willing to betray their employers and their adopted country.

The broader pattern should concern every American who cares about maintaining technological superiority. Processor security, cryptography, artificial intelligence: these are not abstract research topics. They are the building blocks of economic dominance and military capability. When those secrets land in Tehran or Beijing, the advantage that American ingenuity built erodes in real time.

The Trust Problem in Tech

Silicon Valley has long operated on a culture of openness. Engineers move between companies. Knowledge flows freely within organizations. Access to proprietary systems is broad because speed and collaboration demand it.

That culture was built on an assumption of good faith. Cases like this one test that assumption to its limit. When employees allegedly exploit their access not for a competitor but for a hostile foreign government, the entire model of trust-based security comes under pressure.

Google flagged the activity. That matters. But the flag came after hundreds of files had already been transferred. Detection is not prevention.

What This Demands

The charges speak for themselves: individuals entrusted with some of America's most sensitive technological secrets allegedly stole them, lied about it under oath, took deliberate steps to destroy evidence, and carried the stolen goods to Iran.

The indictment is a start. Conviction and serious sentencing would send a message that intellectual property theft on behalf of hostile regimes carries consequences that match the gravity of the act. Anything less tells the next would-be spy that the risk is manageable.

American innovation is not a resource for adversaries to harvest. The people who built these technologies, and the nation that made their work possible, deserve a system that treats their theft as what it is: a threat to national security, prosecuted accordingly.