Atlanta - In February an Atlanta jury found Joya Williams, a former assistant to the director of global brands at Coca-Cola, guilty of trying to sell the trade secrets for up to US1.5 million.
She apologised to the court, saying: "I just wanted to say that I'm not a bad person. I am sorry to Coke and I'm sorry to my boss and to you and to my family as well."
The presiding judge, Owen Forrester ignored the apology, however, and ordered her to pay US$40,000 in restitution as well.
In passing sentence, judge Forrester said: "This is the kind of offence that cannot be tolerated in our society. I can't think of another case in 25 years that there's been so much obstruction of justice. The evidence shows she wished to hurt Coke,'' he added.
Williams' plan was foiled when Coca-Cola's rival, Pepsi, whom Williams had approached, warned Coke had received a letter in May 2006 offering Coca-Cola trade secrets to the "highest bidder".
As a result, the FBI launched an undercover investigation. That revealed the fact that Ibrahim Dimson, Williams's co-defendant who was sentenced to five years on Wednesday, actually wrote the letter. A third defendant, Edmund Duhaney, is to be sentenced in due course.
The investigators found that Williams stole confidential documents and samples of products that Coca-Cola had not yet launched and gave them to the two other defendants. Evidence that the prosecutors used to secure a conviction included surveillance video clips showing Williams packing documents into a bag at her office.
Phone records were as damning, as they comprised a record of calls Dimson made to Williams shortly after he had spoken to an undercover agent; the agent gained Dimson's confidence by pretending to be interested in the documents on behalf of Pepsi.
According to Duhaney, it was Williams – who is also a family friend – who initiated the plan and supplied the documents and samples of the still-to-be-released products.
David Nahmaias, an Atlanta-based US lawyer, paid tribute to Pepsi: "This case is an example of good corporate citizenship leading to a successful prosecution. Unlawfully gaining a competitive advantage by stealing another's trade secrets can lead straight to federal prison," he said.
The sentence was actually two years longer than the prosecutors had sought and Williams, who claimed she had a habit of hording company documents and e-mails, plans to appeal the sentence.
