Coca Cola Employees Busted for Trying to Sell Trade Secrets to Pepsi

Harry Weber for AP reports: Three people were charged by federal prosecutors on Wednesday with stealing confidential information, including a sample of a new drink, from The Coca-Cola Co. and trying to sell it to rival PepsiCo Inc. … According to prosecutors, on May 19, Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo provided Coke with a copy of a letter mailed to PepsiCo in an official Coca-Cola business envelope. The letter, postmarked from the Bronx in New York, was from an individual identifying himself as "Dirk," who claimed to be employed at a high level with Coca-Cola and offered "very detailed and confidential information." "Dirk" was later identified as Dimson, the FBI says. Coca-Cola immediately contacted the FBI and an undercover FBI investigation began. --- PepsiCo is a big corporation, which has more than its share of faults. But credit where due. Pepsi notified Coke what it had received. Not everyone in such national prominence behaves so ethically. Like, Republicans for example. Republican Senators did receive secret memoranda stolen from Democrats - and natually, they kept totally mum about it for a year, until the stolen information was made public, in editorials wherein the info was used to try and discredit the Democrats. A staffer for Orrin Hatch, Manuel Miranda, was the primary culprit. But instead of being tainted as a thief, never mind criminal prosecution, he went from his GOP staff job to become a celebrated hero of Republican activists, the chairman of the National Coalition to End the Judicial Filibuster, and a "source" quoted by the DC press, in the doing of which no mention of his thievery was made.