Three Charged With Stealing Coca Cola Secrets

Three people have been charged in US with stealing information about Coca-Cola's secret recipe and trying to sell it to rival Pepsi.

The three - including Joya Williams, 41, of Norcross, Georgia, who is an executive administrative assistant at Coca-Cola, have been charged with wire fraud along with stealing and trying to selling trade secrets for as much as $ 1.5 million.

Pepsi told Coke it had received a letter from a "high-level employee" called "Dirk" at the world-famous soft drinks firm offering "very detailed and confidential information" including a sample of a secret new drink.

Coke chairman and chief executive, Neville Isdell, expressed his "sincere appreciation" to PepsiCo, the No 2 soft drinks maker, for alerting his company about this security breach and ordered a review of Coke's information protection policies.

He said, "While this breach of trust is difficult for all of us to accept, it underscores the responsibility we each have to be vigilant in protecting our trade secrets."

Pepsi spokesman, Dave DeCecco, said, "We just did what any responsible company would do. Competition can be fierce, but it also needs to be fair."

According to Coke spokesman, Ben Deutsch, the closely guarded formula of Coca-Cola Classic is safe. He added that he wasn't aware of any similar security breach in the company that involved an investigation by federal prosecutors.

The three were arrested as they waited for PepsiCo brass to deposit $ 1.5 million in a bank account they had set up, Atlanta U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said.

"Competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal," said Pepsi spokesman Dave DeCecco. "We're pleased the authorities and the FBI have identified the people responsible for this."