U.S. Judge gives Coke thief Williams eight years imprisonment, because "This is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society." One business insider agreed, “Stealing a secret formula from Coke and trying to sell it to Pepsi, it’s the worst crime I have ever covered, and I use to do rape cases.”

U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester passed jugdement upon Joya Williams, 42, former secretary to Coca-Cola's global brand director. The crime?  She,  along with other conspirators attempted to steal Coca Cola's secret new beverage formula and sell it to PepsiCo Inc. The asking price?  A cool $1.5 million.

Such quantities of cash surely make this a disturbing case. Yet the outcry from representatives of the beverage industry, the attorneys involved and the judge himself seem to be lacking perspective.  One industry expert told us “This Williams is the worst criminal you’ll ever meet…. (The) guidelines need to be changed. She should have got the electric chair…. We’re not talking about petty crime or murder here, we’re talking millions of dollars of research”

It seems Judge Forrester agreed that the sentence should have been worse, "I can't think of another case in 25 years that there's been so much obstruction of justice," the judge continued, “The guidelines as they are written don't begin to approach the seriousness of this case."

We asked a number of legal experts and business analysts what they thought would be appropriate punishment if the guidelines could be changed. The answers were astonishing.  They ranged from the electric chair and life imprisonment to 40,000 hours of community service.  All were agreed that the sentence was too light. Swiss business analyst Andreas Schabzieger stated “This is worse than the holocaust, she’s worse than Adolf Hitler, Coca Cola must defend its right to produce beverages in safety or who knows what would happen”  Schabzieger continued, “This whole case has probably added 20 cents to every Coke bottle in the world. Who’s paying for her evil? The consumer. It sickens me.”
The new prototype beverage at the center of all the commotion will no longer be released. The pioneering new product, Cheezefizz, was scheduled to come in Blue Cheese and Diet Cheddar flavours later this year.

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