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The US government has charged a former executive at defense contractor L3 Harris with stealing trade secrets and selling them to a buyer in Russia, according to court documents seen by TechCrunch.
On October 14, the Justice Department charged Peter Williams with stealing eight trade secrets from two unnamed companies. The DOJ made the allegation in a “Criminal Information” document, which, like a complaintRepresents a formal complaint of an alleged crime.
D document The two companies did not specify Williams’ relationship with them, did not specify the nature of the trade secrets, or name the alleged Russian buyer.
TechCrunch has confirmed that Williams mentioned in the document, which did not specify where he worked, is the former general manager of Trenchant, a division of L3Harris that makes hacking and surveillance tools for Western governments, including the United States.
Williams became Trenchant’s general manager on October 23, 2024, and served at Trenchant until August 21, 2025. According to UK business records. According to court documents, Williams, a 39-year-old Australian citizen, lived in Washington, DC.
Four former Trenchant employees previously told TechCrunch that Williams, who was known inside the company as “Dougie,” had been arrested.
A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday that Williams is not currently in federal custody.
The DOJ charged Williams with stealing seven trade secrets between April 2022 and June 2025 and an eighth between June and August 6, 2025.
According to criminal information documents, the US government alleges that Williams made $1.3 million in trade secret sales. Because of that, the DOJ seeks to forfeit the proceeds of Williams’ alleged crimes.
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Do you have more information about this case and the alleged leak of the Trenchant hacking tool? From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382 or via Telegram, Keybase and Wire @lorenzofb. by email.
A spokesperson for L3 Harris did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Williams’ attorney, John Rowley, declined to comment when contacted by TechCrunch on Thursday.
The FBI, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where Williams’ case is being tried, did not respond to multiple requests for comment Thursday. (The U.S. government has been shut down since Oct. 1 due to a federal fund embezzlement.)
When reached by TechCrunch in September about Williams, the FBI declined to comment. The Australian Signals Directorate declined to comment as it was a law enforcement matter.
An indictment and plea agreement hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29 in Washington, DC
In 2018, L3 Harris acquired Azimuth and Linchpin Labs, Two sister startups That led to zero-day development, which later coalesced into trenchants. The two companies sold hacking tools to the so-called Five Eyes, an intelligence sharing group made up of the governments of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
TechCrunch exclusively reported earlier this weekThe company is investigating a leak of its hacking tools, citing four former Trenchant employees.
A former exploit developer at Trenchant told TechCrunch that they suspected leaking tools, but denied any involvement.
The former developer said Trenchant made him a scapegoat for the leak of tools capable of exploiting Google Chrome vulnerabilities, which he claimed he would not have access to because he worked on developing iOS exploits. Three former employees said Trenchant splits what access employees get depending on which platform they work on.
Sources confirmed the exploit of the developer’s account and said the company wrongly accused the former employee.
It was not immediately clear whether this year’s leak investigation into Trenchant was related to the federal charges against Williams.
