Elisabeth Diana, formerly the head of communications at Deel, is no longer with the company, according to her LinkedIn profile. Bloomberg initially reported Diana’s resignation from Deel, which has been recently implicated in allegations of corporate espionage against competitor Rippling.
Efforts by TechCrunch to contact Diana were unsuccessful at the time of publishing. Her LinkedIn profile indicates that she commenced her role at Deel in November 2021 and concluded her tenure in April 2025. Diana had previously served as the head of communications at Instagram and held a corporate communications position at Facebook.
In a formal statement, the company expressed its gratitude for Diana’s contributions and extended best wishes for her future endeavors. Rippling, a workforce management platform, announced on March 17 that it was pursuing legal action against Deel over alleged espionage activities. The charges include violations of the RICO act, misappropriation of trade secrets, and unfair competition.
Initially, Rippling did not disclose the employee involved; however, on April 2, they released an affidavit from the employee, Keith O’Brien, which appeared to corroborate the accusations. O’Brien’s testimony depicted a scenario akin to a corporate espionage thriller, complete with a sting operation and a destroyed phone.
The future of Deel, which was last valued at $12.6 billion, remains uncertain. The startup, backed by investors such as General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, and Y Combinator, was reportedly considering entering the public markets just a couple of months prior.
Deel responded to Rippling’s lawsuit by denying any legal misconduct, suggesting that Rippling was attempting to divert attention from its own alleged violations of Russian sanctions. According to O’Brien, under direction from Deel executives, he had made false statements to authorities, alleging Rippling’s involvement in facilitating Russian payments.
The article has since been updated to include a statement regarding Diana’s departure from Deel and additional context on O’Brien’s statements.