Vedanta’s Sterlite Tech Hit with ₹810 Crore Penalty in U.S. Court for Trade Secrets Violation

A U.S. court has directed Sterlite Technologies’ foreign division to pay ₹810 crore (about $96.5 million) to Prysmian, a U.S.-based company, for misusing trade secrets, as reported by PTI on August 16. This decision has been shared with regulatory bodies, and Prysmian has also released a statement.

Additionally, a $200,000 fine was imposed on Stephen Szymanski, the Executive Vice President for the Americas at Sterlite Technologies Incorporated (STI), for misappropriating Prysmian’s trade secrets. STI is the U.S. branch of Sterlite Technologies (STL), which is part of the Vedanta Group led by Anil Agarwal.

Jury Rules in Favor of Prysmian

Prysmian’s statement mentioned that on August 9, after a three-week trial in South Carolina’s district court, a jury ruled in Prysmian’s favor. The jury determined that Sterlite profited unfairly from Prysmian’s trade secrets and awarded $96.5 million in damages to STI. They also found Szymanski personally benefited from the misappropriation, resulting in the $200,000 penalty.

Szymanski, who previously managed Prysmian’s optical fiber cable business in North America, left Prysmian for Sterlite, a competitor, in August 2020, and started at STI in September 2020.

Sterlite Tech’s Response to the Judgement

Sterlite Tech, in its regulatory filing on August 10, stated it is not directly involved in the dispute nor facing any claims. It noted that “STI believes the judgement is not supported by the testimony and evidence presented at trial and intends to vigorously pursue all available post-trial remedies including an appeal.”

For the first quarter ending June 30, 2024 (Q1FY25), Sterlite Tech reported a consolidated loss of ₹48 crore, with revenue from operations dropping by about 20% to ₹1,218 crore.