Diamond tech company Sarine has reported that two suspects have been arrested in Tel Aviv “on suspicion of attempting to illegally obtain Sarine’s confidential intellectual property”. The two men, according to Sarine, are of Indian nationality.
Around May, Sarine employees were approached “by a third party offering to buy key intellectual property pertaining to Sarine’s diamond manufacturing products”. The company hired a private investigator who met with two men. Last week, in a second meeting, the suspect and a relative, who is an Indian national residing in Israel and a member of the Israel Diamond Bourse, “handed over US$ 100,000 in cash, as an advance payment against an agreed US$1,000,000, to be paid in exchange for Sarine’s GalaxyTM system schematics, list of parts and vendors thereof and software source code”.
According to the company, immediately after the exchange, the Israeli police arrested the suspects. One suspect was remanded into custody, a second suspect was released, and a third suspect who had attended the initial meeting in June, and is known to be in Israel, “remains at large and is being sought by the Tel-Aviv police for questioning”.
In response to these events, David Block, CEO of Sarine, stated that “Sarine […] will aggressively defend its intellectual property in all places and at all times, with all the means that are necessary and appropriate”.
