The
largest business crisis in America today is economic espionage. And
that's downright criminal.
Which companies are at risk?
Those who are vulnerable go far beyond just defense contractors or
Silicon Valley high tech concerns or major industrial giants. In fact, the only
thing necessary for economic espionage to flourish is for a company to have at
least one employee and/or at least one competitor. Specific industry groups
do not matter. And medium-sized companies, who have the largest number of competitors,
are most at risk.
Lexicon Communications was heavily involved in all key aspects of the first
and largest case of economic espionage
ever prosecuted under the new Act -- from the initial suspicion of espionage to
the FBI
surveillance to the ultimate criminal prosecution by the U.S. Justice Department
and successful conviction against a
sizeable Taiwanese business, its founder and chairman, and other company officers. The corporate client we represented
-- a Fortune 500 business competitor of the Taiwanese firm -- was a victim of economic espionage
of staggering proportions for more than eight long years, and
never suspected a thing. In that regard, our client was typical of many victims
of economic espionage. From beginning
to end, we assisted our client in managing and containing the crisis from escalating beyond all reasonable
proportion, and we successfully handled the communications of the crisis to the
client's vast and varied publics around the world, and on Wall
Street.
Today we advise companies on such things as:
How to avoid being a victim of economic
espionage;
How to avoid being investigated for economic
espionage;
Identification of
trade secrets;
Protection of trade
secrets;
Education and
training of employees in proper handling of trade secrets;
How to investigate suspicions
of economic espionage;
How to manage the media so
the crisis does not get misreported or blown out of proportion;
How
to deal with the various constituencies who need to be informed during such a
crisis;
What employees need
to know before, during and after an economic espionage threat;
The
psychological impact of economic espionage on employees;
Financial relations
to ensure that Wall Street and the investment communities don't overreact;
The pros and cons of
reporting such suspicions to appropriate authorities;
How to deal with the FBI
and U.S. Justice Department;
Steps to prevent
unintended broadcast of sensitive information during a trial.
