By Andrew Ward in Atlanta
A Coca-Cola employee and two accomplices are expected in court on Thursday on charges of attempting to sell company secrets to PepsiCo for $1.5m.
The suspects include a Coca-Cola administrative assistant, who is accused of stealing confidential documents and a sample of a new Coke product from the company's Atlanta headquarters.
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The attempted scam was halted when PepsiCo informed Coke that it had received a letter offering "very detailed and confidential" information about its rival in return for cash.
Coke immediately informed the FBI, which launched a surveillance and sting operation ending with the arrest of the three suspects on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said that video footage filmed at Coke's headquarters showed Joya Williams, a company employee, rifling through corporate files and stuffing documents and the drink sample into her bag.
According to prosecutors, another of the conspirators attempted to sell the documents to an undercover FBI agent, posing as a go-between for PepsiCo, for $10,000 and the product sample for $75,000.
Later, the FBI agent struck a deal with the same suspect to buy additional trade secrets for $1.5m.
In a memorandum to staff on Wednesday, Neville Isdell, Coke's chief executive, expressed "sincere appreciation" to PepsiCo for alerting the company to the attempted crime.
He said a review was under way of the company's information protection policies to safeguard its intellectual property.
PepsiCo said it was pleased to have helped its rival identify the security breach.
"We only did what any responsible company would have done in the same circumstances," said a spokesperson. "Competition can be tough but it must always be fair and legal."
The US department of justice said the case showed the government was serious about protecting intellectual property.
"Theft of valuable trade secrets will not be tolerated, not by the Justice Department and not even by competitors, as this case shows," said David Nahmias, US Attorney, raising Coke and PepsiCo for their co-operation with the investigation.
Ms Williams, a 41-year-old executive administrative assistant with Coke, was charged with wire fraud and unlawfully stealing and selling trade secrets together with Ibrahim Dimson, 30, of New York, and 43-year-old Edmund Duhaney of Decatur, near Atlanta.
Mr Isdell said the "breach of trust" by an employee was "difficult for us all to accept". "It underscores the responsibility we each have to be vigilant in protecting our trade secrets," he said in the memorandum. "Information is the life-blood of the company."
Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Three people have been charged in the United States for trying to sell Coca-Cola trade secrets to PepsiCo. The main suspect, administration worker Joya Williams, tried to sell documents and a liquid sample of a new Coca-Cola product to the rival, prosecutors said.

When being offered to buy the trade secrets in May, PepsiCo immediately contacted the FBI. A person calling himself "Dirk" wanted to meet a PepsiCo representative at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta in June. Instead, an undercover FBI agent met with Ibrahim Dimson, the man posing as "Dirk".

During the meeting it is said the undercover agent gave Dimson $30,000 for the trade secrets and promised to pay an additional $45,000 later. Then later that month, another agent later offered to buy the remaining trade secrets for $1.5m. The same day the suspects were arrested.

A third person, Edmund Duhaney, was also arrested.

PepsiCo said in a statement that "competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal".

Coca-Cola said that it would review its security measures. The corporation's top-secret formula of its main drink was not affected in this security breach.