Flexport has taken legal action against two ex-employees for allegedly stealing trade secrets and confidential files to establish their own competing venture, Freightmate AI. The lawsuit claims that Freightmate AI is a result of theft rather than innovation, as mentioned by Flexport's lawyers in the lawsuit filed in a California court on March 12. The accused ex-employees, Bryan Lacaillade and Jason Zhao, who now serve as CEO and COO of Freightmate AI, are said to have covertly conspired to form the rival company while still employed at Flexport. Lacaillade left Flexport first to establish Freightmate AI, while Zhao allegedly remained behind to steal sensitive information, including source codes. Despite admitting to taking documents and data from Flexport, both individuals have denied any inspection of Freightmate AI's source code. Flexport is determined to reclaim its assets and prevent Freightmate AI from using its proprietary information. This case is one of several instances where companies have accused former employees of engaging in corporate espionage. For example, recently, HR software company Rippling filed a lawsuit against Deel, claiming that its competitor had employed a spy to steal confidential business information, which was uncovered through a honeypot email strategy.