America's Cup espionage reported in Alinghi affidavit - photos

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World on 13 May 2009
Lucien Mesmejan, General Counsel for Societe Nautique de Geneve and Team Alinghi has revealed that an employee of BMW Oracle Racing was caught undertaking espionage activities around the team's building facility in Villenueve, Switzerland and was interviewed by police in connection with the incident.

The revelation comes in papers lodged on 12 May by SNG and Alinghi in defence of their Contempt of Court charge which will be heard in the New York Supreme Court on Thursday.

Alinghi says French and Swiss police continue to investigate the actions of Jean Antoine Bonnaveau, who identifies himself as a member of BMW Oracle Racing's design team. The transcript of a hearing at a French regional judicial police department was included in an affidavit lodged with the New York Supreme Court.

An extract from the affidavit filed by Mesmejan is as follows:

'18. On April 29, Team Alinghi SA a criminal complaint against Antoine Jean Bonnaveau, a French resident who is an employee of GGYC’s racing team, BMW Oracle Racing, in Lausanne, Switzerland, for violation of secrecy or privacy with the use of a photo camera device.

'19. Attached hereto as Exhibit 0 is a true and correct copy of the April 29, 2009 minutes of Mr. Bonnaveau’s hearing before the police in Montpellier, France, and a certified translation of the same.

'20. On April 28, 2009, Mr. Bonnaveau drove to Villeneuve, Switzerland to take pictures of the facilities operated there by Alinghi, SNG’s racing team, in order to gain information about boats Alinghi might use in its defence of the America’s Cup. He returned for the same purpose the next day.

'21. On April 29, 2009, Mr. Bonnaveau went back to the Alinghi tents and took measurements of various tents and structures at the site for the same purpose. He used GPS and a rangefinder to have a more precise idea of the proportions from the photographs he took.

'22. After he was detained by French authorities, Mr. Bonnaveau stated that he had been hired by BMW Oracle Racing in December 2007 to carry out these scoping activities on rival teams, and was paid a salary of €10,000 a month to do so. He further stated that he was part of an entire staff employed for this purpose, in what is referred to as a 'recon cell.'

'23. This criminal case has yet to be resolved, and it is not yet known when the investigating magistrate will render a verdict as to whether any laws were broken in connection with this incident.

Following the posting of the Affidavit, Tom Ehman, Head of External Affairs for BMW Oracle Racing commented:

'Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) is once again trying to avoid the Court's clear Judgment by making trumped-up
allegations that have nothing to do with the matter at hand. Legal observation of competitors is common practice in the America’s Cup and other major sporting events.

'In fact, Alinghi 'spies' were photographed several times by our team near the base and on the water in both Anacortes and San Diego. Alinghi/SNG take the view that they can observe others but others can not observe them.

'We believe that SNG's attempted delaying tactics will not stop the 33rd America's Cup from proceeding in February 2010 as ordered by the Court last month,' Ehman added.

As the 33rd America's Cup is a Deed of Gift Match, there is no Protocol in place and therefore no restrictions on counter-espionage between competing teams. Therefore provided the teams operate in compliance with the laws of the country in which the espionage is taking place, then this form of information gathering is quite legitimate activity.

In the last page of the affidavit, Bonnaveau (50) comments that it is common practice amongst the teams to observe each other activities, and that this has taken place against BMW Oracle on several occasions by members of Alinghi (who were subsequently taken out to dinner by their 'victims'.

'I did all that in the context of my work, for my employer BMW Oracle Racing' says Bonnaveau. 'This company is a competitor of Alinghi. I specify that I was officially authorized by my company to carry out this reconnaissance. In fact, I am part of the design team but the entire staff can provide useftil information, particularly on opposing teams. We call that a 'recon cell' for reconnaissance. '

'The person who authorized me is Manolo RUIZ DE ELVIRA, who is a designer. All that was done verbally, in Valencia. It is a group decision.

'I specify that this type of information gathering on the competition is routine, even Alinghi does it this way.

'Furthermore, at the end of 2008 during the period of putting our own boat in the water in Anacortes in the United States (Washington) and during our training in San Diego, we had to put up with the constant, bothersome presence of the Alinghi information team.

'I also want to specify that considering the images freely available on the Internet concerning the facilities inside the tent on the Alinghi site, I did not think that my photos of the outside of the tent could be criminal in nature. I am referring in particular to the photos of the concrete structures put in place under the tent, which make it possible to determine certain characteristics of the boat.'

Question: What use did you Intend for the Information you obtained?

Answer:'I made two reports. I did not collect information critical for Alinghi, or frankly decisive for Oracle. What is circulating on the Internet is much more specific than what I was able to observe. I did not see the hulls, for example. These reports were intended for the Oracle design team so that they could evaluate everything that might have been there, in particular the technical characteristics of the competing project.'

The full affidavit and police interview can be seen by http://multimedia.alinghi.com/multimedia/docs/2009/05/602446-07_Masmejan_affidavit.pdf!clicking_here and scrolling down through the attachments