Coke Spy Tries to Sell Coca-Cola Secrets to Pepsi

The Verdict

July 5, 2006, three suspected spies were arrested for allegedly trying to sell Coca-Cola secrets to PepsiCo. Joya Williams, an ex-Coke employee, plead not guilty while her co-conspirators, Edmund Duhaney of Decatur and Ibrahim Dimson of New York, plead guilty. On Friday, February 2, 2007 Williams was convicted of trying to sell Coca-Cola secrets to PepsiCo for $1.5 million. Williams is currently out on bail while she awaits sentencing, which could be anything up to a maximum of ten years. Duhaney and Dimson are still waiting to be sentenced as well.

The Fizzled Plot

PepsiCo brought the scheme to light after they were approached by the trio. PepsiCo presented papers from a person claiming to be a high-level employee offering to sell Coca-Cola products samples and other confidential information to Atlanta-based Coca-Cola in May of 2006. Coca-Cola then contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and set the investigative wheels in motion. The spying trio didn't know that their Pepsi contact was actually an undercover FBI agent running a sting operation.

Joya Williams, an ex-Coca-Cola secretary, said she made a habit of copying and taking home documents from her job, but she had never intended to try to sell Coca-Cola secrets to anyone. Williams claims she was deceived by Duhaney and Dimson. Edmund Duhaney testified that Joya Williams masterminded the plan, provided the confidential Coca-Cola documents and the Coca-Cola samples.

Coca-Cola, however, presented videotape surveillance that showed Williams taking documents and product samples from her office at all hours of the night. In addition, in taped wiretapped conversations, co-conspirators Dimson and Duhaney discuss how they need to get more confidential documents and product samples from their supplier.

The Jury and Attorneys