A federal grand jury has indicted three Silicon Valley engineers accused of stealing trade secrets from major technology companies, including Google, and transmitting the information to Iran, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The defendants — Iranian nationals Samaneh Ghandali, 41, Soroor Ghandali, 32, and Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40 — were arrested Thursday and appeared in federal court in San Jose, California. They face charges of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of an official proceeding.
Prosecutors say Samaneh and Soroor Ghandali previously worked at Google before moving to another firm, while Khosravi was employed by a separate, unnamed company. Authorities allege the trio stole sensitive data from Google and other tech firms and transferred it to devices tied to one another’s employers and to Iran.
Officials claim the group exploited roles at companies involved in mobile processor technology to access confidential information, including data security materials. It remains unclear who in Iran allegedly received the data.
FBI officials described the alleged conduct as a calculated breach of trust by employees accused of taking proprietary information from their own employers.
Investigators say the Ghandali sisters copied hundreds of files, including Google trade secrets related to Pixel smartphone processors, onto personal devices and third-party communication platforms.
Prosecutors also allege the defendants tried to conceal their actions by deleting exported files and other electronic evidence. Google’s internal security systems reportedly detected suspicious activity by Samaneh Ghandali and revoked her access to company systems in August 2023.
Authorities further stated that Ghandali and Khosravi traveled to Iran in December 2023, when a personal device linked to her accessed sensitive documents.
If convicted, each defendant could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each conspiracy count, and up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the obstruction charge.