Secretary guilty of stealing Coca-Cola secrets
A federal jury today found a former secretary guilty of plotting to steal secrets from The Coca-Cola Company, the world’s largest beverage maker.
The jury of seven women and five men found Joya Williams guilty of conspiracy after deliberating for three days.
She now faces up to 10 years in prison.
Williams was fired as a secretary to Coca-Cola’s global brand director at the company’s Atlanta headquarters after the allegations came to light.
The government says Williams stole confidential documents and samples of products that had not been launched from Coca-Cola and gave them to Ibrahim Dimson and Edmund Duhaney as part of a conspiracy to sell the items to PepsiCo for at least $1.5m (€1.1m).
Dimson and Duhaney have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Duhaney testified previously that Williams spearheaded the scheme. Dimson did not testify.
