A former Colgate Palmolive researcher was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Monday for stealing the company's confidential toothpaste formula U.S. prosecutors said muamer reci, 58, had worked in Colgate labs for nearly 20 years, where he had access to the company's proprietary formulas for famous toothpaste and oral hygiene products.
Court documents show that in 2012, reci and two other employees established a company called reci & amp; Sons' consumer hygiene and cleaning products company registered a subsidiary called reci enterprises in Macedonia three years later. Prosecutors said reci had never disclosed his company to Colgate.
Prosecutors said reci then sent secret formulations of Colgate toothpaste - including an unlisted dry mouth toothpaste and a children's toothpaste - to his company to launch its own products.
Colgate said that these formulas are worth tens of millions of dollars in research and development costs.
Reci was arrested in early 2019 and pleaded guilty to telecommunications fraud later that year. In addition to imprisonment, reci was also asked to pay $188000 in compensation.