A Florida man has been found guilty of dishing out company trade secrets from his former employer, Alpha Mining Systems, to competitors. Alpha, a global manufacturer of industrial mining tires, won a $19.7 million judgment against Sam Vance, the company’s former sales and marketing manager. The judge ruled that Vance gave competitors more than enough to steal away Alpha’s business, saying:

“Alpha has suffered and continues to suffer irreparable damage as a result of defendant’s misappropriation of Alpha’s confidential, proprietary and trade secret information.”

Vance hasn’t shown up to any of his eight scheduled court appearances, maybe because he was so busy acquiring jobs at rival companies. In 2005, according to the Herald Tribune, he worked for Florida-based Alpha Mining Systems, Alpha’s China-based competitor Guizhou Tire Co. and United Arab Emirates-based Al Dobowi Group. His job description? Hand over secret Alpha documents to its rival firms, including design blueprints, and advise rivals’ clients that they now can get Alpha designed tires directly from Guizhou.

There’s no word on whether Vance can afford to pay the $19.7 million fine or not (as the Herald Tribune puts it, he may not have the “wherewithal”). It’s also unclear how Vance got the idea to work for Alpha’s overseas rivals in the first place – whether he was disgruntled and reached out to them, or the other way around. Whatever the case, he’s been barred “from working in mining worldwide or contacting his current employers or any current or former customers of Alpha.”

There is one minor fault in the story worth noting: The Herald Tribune states, “Del-Nat Tire Corp. and American Tire Corp. were buying a combined average of $1.9 million per month from Alpha until April 2005, when they stopped buying anything.” American Tire Corporation fervently denies having ever heard of Alpha, yet alone conducting business with the company. So, for all of you conducting business with ATC, don’t worry they’re in the clear.