Ethics Ethical Coca-cola Employee Tries to Sell Trade Secrets to PepsiCo "What if you knew the markets Coca-cola was going to video recording of Williams putting confidential documents move into and out of and beat them to the punch." and samples of Coke products that were still in development -Letter to PepsiCo into her bag. Williams was convicted by a federal jury of conspiring to PepsiCo received a letter sent to the company by an steal Coca-cola trade secrets and attempting to sell them to employee of Coca-cola Company that offered to sell PepsiCo archrival PepsiCo. The trial court judge sentenced Williams trade secrets of Coca-Cola. The letter stated, "What if you to 8 years in jail. The U.S. court of appeals upheld the deci- knew the markets Coca-cola was going to move into and out sion. Two other co-conspirators were arrested and pled guilty. of and beat them to the punch." The letter proposed sell- United States v. Williams, 526 F.3d 1312, 2008 U.S. App. ing trade secrets regarding a proposed Coke product code- Lexis 6073 (United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh named Project Lancelot for $1.5 million. Circuit, 2008) PepsiCo notified Coca-cola officials and federal authori- ties. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated an Ethics Questions Did Williams act loyally in this case? investigation into the matter. The federal government brought Did PepsiCo do what it was supposed to do in this case? criminal charges against Coca-cola secretary Joya Williams. How likely is it that PepsiCo would have paid Williams and During the trial, prosecutors produced the letter as well as a her co-conspirators the money they demanded