A legal dispute between Ocado and its co-founder and a former employee, who hails from the North West, has been settled after they secured confidential documents from the online retail firm while they set up a competitor.
The company has confirmed that Jonathan Faiman and Jon Hillary have "made a significant payment" as part of the settlement, the PA News agency has reported.
Ocado was established by Mr Faiman alongside Tim Steiner and Jason Gissing in 2000. However Mr Faiman left in 2008.
He set up rival Today Development Partners alongside Mr Hillary, who had been one of Ocado's longest-serving employees.
Mr Hilary attended Lancaster Grammar School growing up and then went on to study at the University of Manchester.
After holding various roles at WH Smith after leaving university, Mr Hillary joined Ocado in 2001 as IT project managing.
He then moved up the ranks to become group transformation director in October 2018 before leaving in August 2019 to help set up Today Development Partners where he is chief operating officer.
Behind the scenes, Ocado bosses are understood to be furious at Mr Faiman's actions.
A source close to the company described Mr Faiman as a "total chancer" and said the business is "markedly different" from when he was last involved.
The FTSE 100 group accused him and Mr Hillary of "corporate espionage" and conspiracy in 2019.
It has now published an agreed statement of facts following the settlement, which said that Mr Hillary handed "a significant number of confidential documents belonging to Ocado" to Mr Faiman while still working at Ocado.
The documents related to the operation of Ocado's warehouses and details regarding its joint venture with Marks & Spencer, which replaced its retailer partnership with Waitrose last September.
It said that, at the time Ocado's search order was served, Mr Faiman was "on his way to a meeting with Waitrose with a significant number of these confidential documents in hard copy".
A spokesman for Ocado said: "Ocado has never been stronger.
"Our people have built a great business.
"It is our duty to protect our people and their work from any unlawful and illegitimate use by third parties for their own ends."
The group said the settlement does not affect its legal proceedings against Raymond McKeeve, a former partner of the global law firm Jones Day, for contempt of court regarding his involvement in the incident.
In February, the Court of Appeal ruled that Mr McKeeve should face a hearing for contempt after it heard he called for Mr Faiman to "burn" messages after the search order was served.
