All You Need to Know About The Infamous "Cola-Heist"

Straight out of an Ian Fleming novel, the story of "Coca-Cola Heist" has all the elements of an engaging, thrilling spy story.
13 years ago, an irked employee of Coca-Cola tried to sell some confidential documents and the alleged secret formulae to Pepsi and what followed next will shock you to the core!

Much to their delight, they received a call within two weeks from supposed PepsiCo employee by the name of “Jerry.” Jerry played safe and asked for proof of the possession of the alleged “extremely confidential” secrets. A little later, he received a 14-page long fax from Dimson, all marked “confidential information” or “classified-highly restricted”.

Things were gradually but smoothly falling in place now. The day was not far when Williams would be practically playing with the kind of money she'd never see working for Coca-Cola all her life.

Provided the proof, even Dimson was not a noob. He asked Jerry to wire a certain amount of money to a provided bank account, to prove his authenticity. Shortly thereafter, he received a transfer for $5k and here it all began!

Williams managed to sneak out hoards of documents (presentations, internal emails, development proposals), actual samples of unreleased products and a small vial of a “secret” product under development.

The 'treasure' was then procured safely in Dimson's custody for the final deal. Dimson negotiated a deal of $75k — $30k upfront and $45k later after tests.

This led to the meeting and exchanging of bags at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Soon after receiving the cash, the trio left for Georgia. To their much surprise, they received a call from Jerry 10 days later offering them $1.5m for the remaining trade secrets.

The 'trio' was baffled by their success. It was as if they'd struck a pot of gold or so they thought!

Just like in any bad spy movie, expect the unexpected, Jerry wasn't who he claimed to be! He was FBI Special Agent Gerald Reichard.

*Flash Back Ahead*Months earlier, when Pepsi received the trio's first letter, THEY PROMPTLY FORWARDED IT TO COCA-COLA, INFORMING THEM THAT THEY HAD A LEAKER!!!

That's when Coca-Cola brought in the FBI to conduct an undercover investigation!

Shortly after, On July 5, 2006, Williams, Dimson, and Duhaney were arrested on charges of wire fraud and unlawfully stealing and selling trade secrets.
Duhaney and Dimson were handed 2- and 5-year prison sentences, while Williams ended up spending 8 years in the cell.

Everything is fair in love and war, and a corporate war between the soda dominions reaching summits at a time when the convivial unexpected happened!

According to a Pepsico spokesperson:

“Competition can be fierce, but it must also be fair and legal.”

In times when high-profile rival organizations are being accused of trade secret theft to bring the businesses down, they could sure learn a lot about 'Corporate Ethics' from Pepsi and Coca-Cola!