New Delhi: A recent scandal involving a Coca-Cola has come to light, where a secretary, Zoya Williams, allegedly tried to sell company secrets to its rival, Pepsi. Zoya, 41, was arrested at Coca-Cola’s global headquarters after reportedly teaming up with two accomplices, Ibrahim Dimson and Edmund Duhani, to leak confidential information. They were seeking ₹12.6 crore (about $1.5 million) in exchange for these secrets.
Zoya, who worked as an assistant to Coca-Cola’s global brand director, is accused of stealing sensitive details about new products and attempting to sell them to Pepsi. However, Pepsi did the right thing and informed the FBI, which launched an undercover investigation. During the sting operation, Dimson was caught accepting $30,000 (about ₹24 lakh) for Coca-Cola’s secret documents.
Pepsi has been praised for its honesty in handling the situation. Public prosecutor David Nahmias highlighted how important trade secrets are in business, noting that if Coca-Cola’s confidential information had been leaked, it could have caused serious financial harm to the company and even affected the market.
Zoya and her partners are now facing several charges related to theft and conspiracy. They had reportedly asked Pepsi for an advance payment of $10,000 (around ₹8.4 lakh) for the secrets, with the promise of more after the full deal. Zoya is also said to have written a letter to Pepsi, claiming to have key information about Coca-Cola’s products, packaging, and other secrets. Instead of going through with the deal, Pepsi reported it to Coca-Cola and the FBI, leading to the arrest of Zoya and her accomplices.
