The heated legal dispute between Rippling and Deel has taken another dramatic turn, drawing in Revolut, one of the U.K.’s highest-profile fintech companies.
A former Rippling employee, Keith O’Brien, filed an explosive affidavit claiming he was paid around $6,000 per month by Deel to secretly monitor and report on his own employer. The first payment, according to O’Brien, was sent to his Revolut account in November 2024. The sender? A woman identified as Alba Basha Westgarth, who he says is the wife of Deel’s COO, Dan Westgarth.
At the time, Basha Westgarth was employed as a crypto compliance lead at Robinhood. Her LinkedIn profile — now deleted — showed she was based in Dubai, the same location where Deel’s CEO and legal head are reportedly staying as Rippling attempts to serve them with legal papers. The UAE has long been viewed as a challenging jurisdiction for extradition, making this detail particularly notable.
Rippling is now asking the Irish courts to compel Revolut to release identifying information about the sender named on the $6,000 transfer. Specifically, the company wants full personal details and the original documents used to open the account — including proof of ID and residency — to confirm whether the individual is indeed Alba Basha Westgarth.
In anticipation of the request, Revolut has engaged top legal counsel in Ireland. Last week, the company responded to Rippling’s legal team with a letter that, according to Rippling’s attorney, was “helpful but complicated.” No further explanation was provided during the court proceedings.
It’s important to clarify that there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on Revolut’s part. The issue stems from strict European privacy regulations that limit disclosure of personal banking data without a court directive. Currently, no formal order has been issued by the Irish High Court to compel Revolut to hand over the requested information.
Although Revolut has not commented directly on the ongoing case, it maintains a general policy of complying with court-ordered requests for disclosure.
For now, whether the company will be required to reveal the identity behind the “Alba Basha” account is uncertain. If a court order isn’t granted, the only remaining option under European privacy law would be voluntary customer consent — an unlikely scenario, given the circumstances.
Meanwhile, Deel continues to deny any wrongdoing in public statements. Requests for comment sent to Deel, Dan Westgarth, and Alba Basha Westgarth have gone unanswered. Rippling also declined to comment further.
Still, the Irish High Court appears to be treating the allegations with increasing seriousness. During an April 2 hearing, Rippling’s lawyer outlined a range of evidence linking Basha to Deel’s executive team — including a photo of her and Westgarth together on Facebook. That prompted Judge Mark Sanfey to dryly note, “It could be a coincidence, but it’s unlikely!”
This legal faceoff — involving three prominent tech companies and a complex web of personal and professional ties — is far from over. As Rippling pushes for access to more details, the next move rests with the court.
