Varun Gupta working at a vineyard in France, starting a new career after leaving the tech world.
Former Intel engineer Varun Gupta has avoided jail but made headlines after being found guilty of stealing thousands of confidential files from Intel before joining Microsoft. Gupta spent his final days at Intel quietly copying sensitive documents, including a crucial PowerPoint presentation outlining Intel’s pricing strategies. Prosecutors argued that this secret data not only helped Gupta land a job at Microsoft but also tipped competitive negotiations in Microsoft’s favor.
In court, the judge chose not to send Gupta to prison, instead giving him two years’ probation and a fine of $34,472. This unusual fine matched the cost of the eight months in jail that prosecutors had pushed for. The judge explained that while Gupta’s actions were serious and deliberate, he had already paid a price by losing his high-level tech career, settling a $40,000 lawsuit with Intel, and having his reputation publicly damaged.
With the legal case behind him, Gupta has made a dramatic life change. He has left the tech world, paid his dues, and now lives in France with his family where he’s studying vineyard management. Exchanging servers for soil, Gupta is hoping to start a new chapter as a technical director in the wine industry.
