Another gripping allegation of corporate espionage has emerged from the profoundly boring world of employee onboarding platforms and 401(k) administration.<\/p>\n
All year<\/a>, we\u2019ve been following the ongoing death match<\/a> between HR software titans Rippling and Deel, which are currently locked in a litigation<\/a> featuring accusations of planted moles and systematic data theft. Now, as first spotted by Axios<\/a>, comes Act Two: the 401(k) management unicorns, Human Interest and Guideline, squaring off in federal court with allegations so brazen that they\u2019re embarrassing.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a taste, plucked from Human Interest\u2019s lawsuit against Guideline<\/a>, filed this month in Utah federal court: \u201cWe are going to tear apart HI. It\u2019s going to be the easiest thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s Brandon Sterri texting his brothers on January 29. According to the complaint, Brandon and his brother Brian were, at that moment, still drawing paychecks from Human Interest, still logging into their company-issued laptops every morning beneath reminders that access was \u201climited to authorized personnel,\u201d and that they\u2019d agreed \u201cto protect confidential data.\u201d Their third brother, Eirik, worked for the competition, Guideline.<\/p>\n Per the lawsuit, the Sterri brothers didn\u2019t just talk big. They allegedly called their operation the \u201cSterri Takeover,\u201d a name revealing either remarkable hubris or a serious misunderstanding of how corporate espionage is supposed to work, which is to say, very, very quietly.<\/p>\n The complaint alleges a months-long scheme in which Brian and Brandon, working as junior inside sales representatives at Human Interest, systematically funneled their employer\u2019s most sensitive intelligence, including partnership leads, customer data, and internal strategy documents, directly to Guideline. <\/p>\n But not just to anyone at Guideline; Human Interest alleges the brothers were sharing it directly with the company\u2019s chief executive, Kevin Busque, and its chief financial officer, Steven Wu.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco Reached for comment, a Guideline spokesperson sent the following statement: \u201cGuideline believes allegations in this lawsuit are false and without merit. We are vigorously defending ourselves and we look forward to presenting the facts and showing that these claims are unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n Human Interest did not respond to TechCrunch\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n According to Human Interest\u2019s complaint, two days after Brian Sterri resigned from Human Interest on February 24, he made a request that allegedly exposed the entire operation. \u201cGot a big favor to ask,\u201d he allegedly texted a former colleague named Castro, still employed at Human Interest. Then came the ask: \u201cA screenshot of total lead flow for ISR team this month.\u201d<\/p>\n Based on the complaint, Castro, perhaps understanding more than she let on, replied: \u201cAm i allowed to ask why.\u201d\u00a0Brian responded with a grinning emoji.<\/p>\n The screenshot Brian wanted wasn\u2019t just sensitive; it was, according to Human Interest, the crown jewels. Total lead flow represents the fundamental pool of potential clients, the critical determinant of growth trajectory and market penetration. It is information Human Interest has spent years and millions of dollars cultivating through proprietary business processes and partnerships with payroll providers. The kind of information that, in the wrong hands, creates what the lawsuit calls \u201ca significant informational imbalance\u201d and provides \u201cconsiderable strategic advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n Reading the complaint, it appears that Castro grasped the gravity of what Brian was asking and the transactional nature of the betrayal. \u201cI\u2019m down to play dirty for sure but you need to get me a job lol.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian, the lawsuit alleges, brazenly promised her employment at Guideline in exchange for the data. When Castro didn\u2019t immediately deliver, Brian tried again the next morning: \u201cI still need that favor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrian you know I can\u2019t do that,\u201d Castro allegedly replied.<\/p>\n According to the complaint, Brian didn\u2019t stop there. He allegedly called and texted, and when Castro stopped responding, his wife McKenna reached out on his behalf. <\/p>\n The complaint paints a picture of systematic infiltration. Before their resignations, the brothers allegedly downloaded documents with titles like \u201cLeads Data\u201d and emailed files from their work accounts to personal Gmail addresses \u2014 Brian\u2019s, and his wife\u2019s. By logging into personal email on company laptops, they could bypass Human Interest\u2019s detection systems entirely.<\/p>\n On February 27, the same day Castro allegedly shut him down, Brian reached out to another Human Interest employee, Chloe Garza, with whom the Sterris had a \u201cclose personal and\/or familial relationship,\u201d per the complaint. The request: internal metrics from a Slack channel. Garza also refused: \u201cYea so I cannot send you anything HI related.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian\u2019s response, as characterized in the complaint, is telling. In the same conversation, he allegedly wrote that \u201cMitch [another HI sales rep] would be the only person that could really give me the information GDL [Guideline] would want.\u201d The complaint argues that the admission is right there, preserved in text.<\/p>\n After Human Interest\u2019s leadership held emergency meetings to remind employees of their confidentiality obligations, the complaint alleges, Brian mocked the effort. \u201clol Horne using fear tactics lmao,\u201d he texted Castro. \u201cHeard today scared a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n What elevates this from garden-variety corporate misbehavior to alleged racketeering is the purported involvement at the top. Human Interest claims this wasn\u2019t rogue employees gone wild but instead a coordinated operation with executive blessing.<\/p>\n After Human Interest sent cease-and-desist letters in early March, the complaint says, Eirik Sterri texted his brothers with an update. He\u2019d spoken with Andrew Conley, Guideline\u2019s Senior Vice President of Sales. The message: \u201cAndrew is great. Also everyone has your backs for real. Everyone has expressed how fired up they are about the situation. It will blow over and all of us will be so fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n Then came what Human Interest characterizes as extortion. Guideline has agreed to be acquired by Gusto, the $9.3 billion payroll giant, for what TechCrunch reported earlier this month to be a $600 million deal<\/a>. As part of the transaction, Guideline planned to divest certain assets and accounts associated with rival payroll companies. When Human Interest inquired about purchasing some of those assets, Guideline\u2019s CFO allegedly delivered an ultimatum: drop the lawsuit, or the deal is off.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n