--- title: "The payments to Keith O'Brien" language: en canonical: https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/deel/payment-trail/ as_of: 2026-10-13 keywords: ["Deel","Deel, Inc.","Lifeslice, Inc.","Alex Bouaziz","Philippe Bouaziz","Shuo Wang","Dan Westgarth","Rippling","People Center, Inc.","Keith O'Brien","Lets Deel Ltd","Atlantic Money","Deel Payments Europe","DPayments","Omnipresent","Sarona Ventures","Prodware","Andreessen Horowitz","employer of record","Rippling v. Deel"] --- # The payments to Keith O'Brien **Question.** How was Keith O'Brien paid, and what do the court records and the parties say about the payments? **Answer.** A US court order of 17 November 2025 describes the transactions at the heart of Rippling's case as a payment from Lets Deel Ltd, Deel's UK affiliate, to Alba Basha, who is married to Deel's chief operating officer Dan Westgarth, followed by a corresponding payment from Basha to O'Brien. O'Brien says in a sworn affidavit that he received $6,000 this way in November 2024 and later payments in Ethereum, which he says Philippe Bouaziz told him would leave "no trace". Deel says the records contain "nothing new", calls O'Brien a paid witness of Rippling and has given the court its own explanations for the payments. No court has decided what the payments were for. ## What the court records show - Analysis: Revolut Technologies Inc. produced account records under Rippling's subpoena and marked them confidential. On 17 November 2025 Magistrate Judge Lisa J. Cisneros largely granted Rippling's challenge to those designations. The customers concerned were Lets Deel Ltd, which the order calls Deel, Inc.'s corporate affiliate; Alba Basha, who is married to defendant Daniel Westgarth; and Keith O'Brien. None of them opposed disclosure, and the judge ordered public versions filed with account numbers and a home address redacted. The order describes the transactions at the heart of the case as a payment from Lets Deel Ltd to Basha followed by a corresponding payment from Basha to O'Brien. It rules on confidentiality only and does not decide what the payments were for; Rippling's complaint states that Basha is not a Deel employee. [src-026] [src-065] - Analysis: Reporting on the unsealed records, a technology news outlet wrote that the money moved from a Revolut account belonging to Lets Deel Ltd to Basha's personal account and that she transferred the entire amount to O'Brien 56 seconds later; it put the amount at $6,000. A newspaper wrote that the records appeared to corroborate claims that Revolut's platform had been used by Deel to pay O'Brien. Both are press readings of documents filed by Rippling, and the purpose of the payment is Rippling's allegation. Deel said the material was "Rippling rehashing its same story, nothing new" and that it had not contested the unsealing, and pointed to O'Brien's cooperation agreement with Rippling, which it says gave him, as a paid witness, a €110,700 lump sum, a blank cheque for his expenses and legal indemnification. The magistrate judge, noting that the account holders had not opposed disclosure, ordered the records filed publicly with account numbers and a home address redacted; no court has ruled on what the payments were for. [src-023] [src-026] [src-027] ## O'Brien's account - Analysis: In his affidavit of 1 April 2025 in the Irish High Court, O'Brien says that in late September 2024 Alex Bouaziz, on a WhatsApp call, suggested that he stay at Rippling and become a "spy" for Deel for a monetary reward, and that Alex and Philippe Bouaziz later told him he would be paid about €5,000 a month around the 6th of each month. He says his first payment, $6,000, arrived in early November 2024 in his Revolut account from an account in the name "A.B.", whom he later understood to be Basha, and that Philippe Bouaziz then told him further payments would be made in cryptocurrency because this would leave "no trace"; he describes receiving Ethereum in a Blockchain.com wallet and converting it into his AIB account. This is sworn testimony by a party witness and has not been tested at trial. Deel's counterclaims say O'Brien was a job-seeker who sent unsolicited information and was coerced by Rippling into a false account, and according to a March 2026 report by a business news outlet Deel has given the US court explanations for the payments, which the headline describes as a "job transition" and second-hand luxury watches. [src-062] [src-059] - Analysis: Rippling's racketeering claim builds on this account: it says Alex and Philippe Bouaziz used interstate and foreign wires, including a Revolut transfer that on information and belief passed through the US banking system, to bribe O'Brien. These are Rippling's allegations. [src-065] ## Revolut and the Irish court - Analysis: Before the US records were unsealed, Rippling asked Revolut in the Irish proceedings for the full name, address and account-opening documents of the "Alba Basha" named as sender on the $6,000 receipt. At a hearing on 2 April 2025, after Rippling's lawyer presented evidence linking her to Westgarth, Justice Mark Sanfey remarked that it "could be a coincidence, but it's unlikely". The remark was made during a hearing and is not a finding; Revolut itself was not accused of wrongdoing. [src-067] [src-094] - Analysis: Revolut was also an ordinary business supplier to Deel: a Revolut Business case study, undated in the retained copy, says Deel uses Revolut's Business API to pay contractors worldwide and quotes Westgarth praising the service. [src-038] ## Deel's explanations - Analysis: Beyond its headline and opening, a business news outlet's March 2026 article on Deel's explanations is behind a paywall, so what Deel told the court is not known in detail. The article contrasts them with Rippling's earlier submissions, which described an arrangement under which O'Brien would spy for Deel for $6,000 a month, paid first through Revolut and then in cryptocurrency. [src-059] ## Sources - [src-026] Order granting in part and denying in part a motion challenging confidentiality designations (Dkt. 150), U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal., Case No. 3:25-cv-02576-CRB, 2025-11-17 - [src-065] Court record source · src-065 - [src-023] Media source · src-023 - [src-027] Media source · src-027 - [src-062] Court record source · src-062 - [src-059] Media source · src-059 - [src-067] Media source · src-067 - [src-094] Media source · src-094 - [src-038] Company statement source · src-038