Three Former Google Engineers Charged with Stealing Trade Secrets

Key Findings:

• Three Iranian-American engineers - Samaneh Ghandali, 41, her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, and Samaneh's husband Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40 - have been indicted for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Google and other tech firms and transferring the information to unauthorized locations, including Iran.

• The defendants are accused of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice.

• Samaneh and Soroor Ghandali previously worked at Google before joining another tech company, while Khosravi was employed at a separate firm.

• The stolen trade secrets allegedly included information related to processor security, cryptography, and other sensitive technologies.

• The defendants are accused of using their employment to obtain access to confidential information, which they then exfiltrated to unauthorized third-party and personal locations, including to Iran.

• They are alleged to have taken steps to conceal their actions, such as submitting false affidavits, destroying exfiltrated files, and manually photographing computer screens.

Background

The three defendants, all Iranian nationals residing in San Jose, California, were arrested on Thursday and made their initial appearances in federal district court. Samaneh Ghandali and her husband Khosravi are both U.S. citizens, while Soroor Ghandali was in the U.S. on a nonimmigrant student visa.

Alleged Scheme

• The defendants allegedly used their employment at leading technology firms to access confidential and sensitive information, including trade secrets related to processor security, cryptography, and other technologies.

• They are accused of exfiltrating this information to unauthorized third-party and personal locations, as well as to Iran.

• Samaneh Ghandali is alleged to have transferred hundreds of files, including Google trade secrets, to a third-party communications platform, while Soroor Ghandali is accused of exfiltrating numerous Google-related files containing trade secrets to the same channels.

• The stolen files were then copied to different personal devices, as well as work devices belonging to Khosravi and Soroor Ghandali.

Efforts to Conceal

• After Google's internal security systems detected Samaneh Ghandali's activity and revoked her access, she allegedly executed a false affidavit claiming she had not shared Google's confidential information.

• The defendants are also accused of destroying the exfiltrated files and manually taking photographs of screens containing the documents' contents instead of transferring the information digitally.

• Samaneh Ghandali and Khosravi are alleged to have performed online searches and visited websites about deleting communications and other data, including queries related to the duration for which a cellular service provider kept "messages to print out for court."

• Samaneh Ghandali is also accused of manually capturing about 24 photographs of Khosravi's work computer screen containing Company 2 trade secret information on the night before the pair traveled to Iran in December 2023.

Potential Consequences

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of trade secret theft charges, as well as a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the count of obstruction of justice.

Sources

• https://thehackernews.com/2026/02/three-former-google-engineers-indicted.html

• https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/three-engineers-charged-stealing-google-trade-secrets-data-iran-soc-snapdragon.html

• https://www.law360.com/articles/2443949

• https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/bayarea-google-trade-secrets-iran-21368371.php