Former Google Engineers Indicted for Alleged Theft of Chip Security and Cryptography Trade Secrets Sent to Iran

US federal prosecutors indicted Samaneh Ghandali and Soroor Ghandali (former Google engineers) and Mohammadjavad Khosravi (Samaneh’s husband, employed at another unnamed tech firm) for alleged trade secret theft, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice tied to the exfiltration of sensitive processor-related information. The Department of Justice alleges the trio used their roles at multiple Silicon Valley companies to access and steal confidential documents covering processor security and cryptography, and moved the material to unauthorized third-party and personal locations, including destinations linked to Iran.

Investigators allege the activity included transferring large volumes of internal files to external communications platforms and sharing them in channels associated with the defendants, with additional copies later found on personal devices and systems connected to the group. Prosecutors also claim the defendants attempted to conceal the scheme through actions such as destroying records, making false statements, and photographing screens to avoid direct document transfers. Google said it enhanced safeguards and alerted law enforcement after discovering the incident; the alleged stolen trade secrets reportedly included information related to Google’s Tensor processor used in Pixel phones.