The communications director of Deel leaves her position amid a spying lawsuit against Rippling.

Elisabeth Diana, who served as the communications lead at the human resources company Deel, has left the company, according to her LinkedIn profile. This was initially reported by Bloomberg, which noted Diana's resignation in the context of Deel facing accusations of espionage related to competition, specifically against the company Rippling.

Diana began her career at Deel in November 2021, and her departure was recorded in April 2025. Previously, she held prominent positions as head of communications at Instagram and corporate communications director at Facebook. In a statement, the company said, “We are grateful for the work that Elisabeth did during her time at Deel and wish her the best in her next challenge.”

On the other hand, Rippling, a personnel management platform, announced on March 17 that it had sued Deel for alleged espionage activities. The allegations included violations of the RICO Act, commonly used to prosecute members of the mafia, as well as theft of trade secrets and unfair competition. Initially, the identity of the implicated employee was not revealed, but on April 2, Rippling made public an affidavit from the worker, Keith O’Brien, which appeared to confirm the claims made by the suing company.

O’Brien's account has been described as resembling a corporate espionage movie script, featuring shocking details such as an undercover operation and a destroyed phone. Meanwhile, the future of Deel, which was valued at $12.6 billion, remains uncertain. The startup is backed by prominent investors such as General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, and Y Combinator, and it was rumored to be considering an IPO just two months ago.

In response to the lawsuit filed by Rippling, Deel released a statement denying any legal wrongdoing and suggesting that its competitor was attempting to divert attention from previous allegations regarding violations of Russian sanctions. O’Brien later stated that, under the instigation of Deel executives, he had made claims to various authorities about Rippling allegedly facilitating Russian payments, even though he knew such statements were false.

This article has been updated to include information about Diana's departure from Deel and to provide more context regarding O’Brien's statements.