Three Silicon Valley engineers, Samaneh Ghandali, 41, her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, and Samaneh’s husband Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40, have been indicted for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Google and other tech companies and transferring sensitive data to unauthorized locations, including Iran.

Axar.az, citing US Department of Justice, reports that according to the indictment, the defendants exfiltrated hundreds of confidential files related to processor security and cryptography, hid their actions through false affidavits and file destruction, and manually photographed screens to evade detection.

After internal security at Google flagged the activity in August 2023, Samaneh and Khosravi continued capturing and accessing trade secrets even while traveling to Iran.

If convicted, each faces up to 10 years in prison for trade secret theft and up to 20 years for obstruction of justice.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, following an FBI investigation.