
Can employees become rich by stealing secrets and IP? - xstartup
It seems employees can simply steal IP&#x2F;secrets and start an LLC, sell at a heavy discount, live like a king and simply declare bankruptcy at the end and start over?<p>Most likely, the affected parties will sue this company. During the operation (let&#x27;s assume it lasts 12 months before affected parties realize and start filing suit). During the operation, he lives like a king, spends lavishly.<p>What will happen at the end? When lawsuit arrives, he can simply declare bankruptcy and start again.<p>The smart employee used a Limited Liability Company, his personal assets are not at risk. Whatever salary he drew is his own along with the dividends. Not to mention the benefits offered by his company like chartered jets, business travels etc... These can&#x27;t be taken away from him.<p>Why are most employees not doing this? Or are there other mechanisms to prevent this from happening?<p>If you can retire by doing such thing one time, isn&#x27;t it better than working your ass off for the rest of the life for some evil corp?
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uberman
_Can employees become rich by stealing IP?_

Uber (for some reason) decided to give Levandowski $250 million to join their
team. It just "happens" that he had a drive full of Google self-driving car
research. I don't know that Uber paid for the what looks like to me to be
industrial espionage, nor did I follow the details of the case or settlement
but this has the smell of it.

 _Live like a king and start over?_

Yes, if you think 10 years in jail is living like a king, or you value your
life if your IP belongs to the government.

Additionally, court ordered restitution typically places a lien on your
property that is not removed by bankruptcy. As for starting over, who would
hire you in this situation and place you in a position with access to
sensitive IP?

 _The smart employee used a Limited Liability Company_

Your LLC will not shield you from any of this. You can not commit crimes in
the name of your LLC. If you have an employee who commits a crime, then you as
an owner _may_ be shielded but that does not absolve or protect the employee
in any way. In this case you would be held to account personally.

 _Why are most employees not doing this?_

Most people act ethically most of the time and those who are not so inclined
fear the rather terrible long term consequences.

 _can retire by doing such thing one time?_

You mean after serving time in prison or are you assuming that our "employee"
somehow gets away with it? I personally think if someone sells IP that would
be valued in the "retire now" range of value, then they are likely to be
discovered in the long run and held to account.

Better hope you like one of the countries with no extradition agreement and
bank someplace where your assets can't be frozen.

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xstartup
You explained it like a dad. Kudos!

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al2o3cr

        The smart employee used a Limited Liability Company, his personal assets are not at risk.
    

(this is from a US perspective, IANAL, etc)

The protection of an LLC or other corporate structure isn't absolute - there's
a whole vein of legal literature discussing "piercing the corporate veil".

One of the biggest reasons why a court would pierce the veil is using the LLC
for fraudulent / illegal activity as described above. All the salary /
dividends / benefits could be clawed back, and even assets the person had
prior to starting the scheme would be potentially subject to forfeiture to pay
a judgement.

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spacebearmakes
Look at the Waymo/Uber lawsuit. It involves alleged theft of IP and the
individual along with company is being sued.

