A federal jury in South Carolina awarded $96 million to one of the world's leading manufacturers of fiber-optic cables against one of its former executives for misappropriating trade secrets to his new, direct competitor employer.

After a nearly three-week trial held in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Prysmian Cables & Systems USA, led by attorneys with Maynard Nexsen and Frost Brown Todd, earned the $96.7 million in damages against the former employee, Stephen J. Szymanski, and his new employer Sterlite Technologies. Szymanski, who ran Prysmian's optic-cable business in North America, took a job with the competitor company in June 2021.