Deel’s Communications Chief Departs Amid Escalating Spying Lawsuit from Rippling
San Francisco, CA – April 5, 2025 – Elisabeth Diana, the head of communications at Deel, a human resources startup valued at $12 billion, has left the company as it grapples with a high-profile corporate espionage lawsuit filed by its rival, Rippling. Diana’s departure, confirmed via her LinkedIn profile update, comes at a tumultuous time for Deel, with the legal battle intensifying after explosive revelations from a former Rippling employee turned alleged spy.
Rippling, a San Francisco-based workforce management platform valued at $13.5 billion, sued Deel last month in federal court, alleging that Deel orchestrated a months-long scheme to steal trade secrets and confidential data. The lawsuit claims Deel recruited Keith O’Brien, a payroll compliance manager at Rippling’s Dublin office, to siphon sensitive information—ranging from sales strategies to customer lists—and funnel it back to Deel’s leadership. Rippling alleges this gave Deel an unfair edge in their fiercely competitive market.
The drama escalated earlier this week when O’Brien, in an affidavit filed with Ireland’s High Court on April 1, confessed to spying for Deel under direct orders from CEO Alex Bouaziz. O’Brien claimed Bouaziz pitched the idea with a James Bond reference, offering him roughly $6,000 monthly in cryptocurrency to leak Rippling’s secrets. He detailed passing along everything from global payroll strategies to profiles of top Rippling talent, communicating via Telegram with Bouaziz and his father, Philippe Bouaziz, Deel’s CFO. When Rippling caught wind of the breach and confronted O’Brien with a court order on March 14, he admitted to panicking, resetting his phone in a bathroom, and later smashing it on advice from Deel’s legal team.
Diana, who joined Deel in 2021 after stints as Instagram’s communications head and a vice president at Meta, had been a vocal defender of the company amid earlier controversies, including a January lawsuit alleging Deel facilitated money laundering. Her exit, first reported by Bloomberg, was acknowledged by Deel in a statement: “We are grateful for the work Elisabeth did while at Deel and wish her the best in her next endeavor.” The company did not elaborate on whether her departure was tied to the spying scandal.
Deel has staunchly denied Rippling’s allegations, framing the lawsuit as a distraction from Rippling’s own issues. “It is clear from Rippling’s yearslong history of coordinated legal, political, and PR smear campaigns that their business approach is driven by litigation versus strategy,” a Deel spokesperson said. “Deel looks forward to its day in court, at which time the allegations made by Rippling and O’Brien will be shown to be baseless.” Rippling’s legal counsel, Alex Spiro, fired back: “What Deel did is so brazen and clear they now have to turn on their own spy.”
The feud between the two HR tech giants, both born in San Francisco’s startup crucible, has been simmering for years. Rippling CEO Parker Conrad previously barred ex-employees who joined Deel from secondary stock sales, while a Rippling investor is linked to a Florida suit accusing Deel of violating Russian sanctions—a claim Deel denies and Rippling refutes as misdirected. The current lawsuit, however, has thrust their rivalry into a Hollywood-esque spotlight, complete with a honeypot Slack trap that Rippling used to unmask O’Brien and a bathroom standoff that ended with a flushed phone.
As Deel navigates this crisis sans its communications chief, the stakes are high. The company, backed by heavyweights like Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator, was reportedly eyeing a public listing just months ago. Meanwhile, Rippling is said to be in talks for a funding round that could push its valuation to $16 billion. For now, the HR tech world watches as this saga unfolds, blending corporate intrigue with courtroom showdowns.