The General Electric has accused Siemens Energy AG subsidiary of using stolen trade secrets to rig bids for lucrative contracts that supply gas turbines to public utilities and to cover up improper business profits that makes a total to $1billion, according to a lawsuit that has been filed on Thursday.

It rival company GE, Siemens Energy Inc, in a U.S. district court in Virginia, alleging the theft traces back to May 2019, when the industrial conglomerates bid to offer gas turbine equipment and servicing to Dominion Energy Inc. Dominion is a Virginia power utility that provides electricity to about 4 million customers on the east coast.

The suit comes in the wake of Siemens AG spinning off its energy business to create Siemens Energy. GE alleges that Siemens Energy used trade secrets improperly received from a Dominion employee in part to win contracts that would boost the price of its initial public offering that took place in September.

Siemens identified the receipt of GE’s trade secrets “through its own robust compliance processes,” a spokesman said. Following an internal investigation, Siemens “implemented extensive remedial measures in response,” the spokesman added, such as “swift and appropriate discipline of the involved employees, including separation from the company.”

The recipient of GE's trade secrets at Siemens passed the information to colleagues that included those preparing the Dominion bid, which they used to help win the business, the lawsuit said.

In the course of GE's bid for business with Dominion, the lawsuit alleges, a senior Dominion employee started sending to a Siemens account manager confidential business information GE had submitted. The information also included Dominion's analysis of all bids, giving Siemens a "blueprint" to win contracts worth up to $340 million with the utility for the business, known as the Peakers Project, GE alleged.