Ride the Lightning

Law Firm Inadvertently Leaks Pepsi Client Secrets to Wall Street Journal

September 28, 2017

Doesn't it seem like we've heard the same story before with different players? Yes, once again we have an inadvertently misaddressed e-mail going to the last place you want it to go – to a reporter with The Wall Street Journal.

Corporate Counsel carried the story, reporting that Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr was caught up on September 27^th in an e-mail error that revealed secret U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and internal investigations at PepsiCo, after a Wilmer lawyer accidentally sent a Wall Street Journal reporter privileged documents detailing a history of whistleblower claims at the company.

The internal investigation revolves around PepsiCo's 2011 acquisition of the Russian drinks company Wimm-Bill-Dann and the departure of general counsel Maura Smith in 2012 following allegations of financial misreporting and other wrongdoing at PepsiCo. A subsequent SEC investigation into Smith's dismissal, and whether the company fired her in violation of whistleblower laws, is "at an early stage," The Wall Street Journal reported.

The reporter learned details about the years-old internal investigation started by Smith and about the more recent SEC probe, for which Smith was subpoenaed. The information included an August 31 memo about Smith's subpoena and her contact with federal investigators that was "mistakenly sent by a WilmerHale attorney to a Wall Street Journal reporter as part of communication to other attorneys working on the matter," the report said.

Wilmer's explanation and apology, sent from a spokesman, came less than three hours after the newspaper published its report. The law firm said it "inadvertently" leaked privileged information by e-mail, then asked the reporter to delete what he received. Wilmer accuses the newspaper of going back on its word to delete leaked documents.

Wilmer's statement reads like a law firm's nightmare:

"We deeply regret that privileged documents were inadvertently emailed to a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. WilmerHale takes full responsibility, and we apologize to our client. We promptly advised The Wall Street Journal of the error and asked the reporter to delete the material. The reporter told us he had deleted the material, but we later learned he had printed and retained hard copies.

We are disappointed that The Journal has decided to publish private information it knew was protected by our client's legal privilege. We are taking additional measures designed to ensure that emails are not misaddressed to unintended recipients."

For complete details of what was revealed, be sure and read the full story. Not sure if this an "auto-complete" nightmare again, but it seems probable. Always double check who you are sending e-mails to before you hit 'Enter'.

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