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Rippling\u2019s efforts to serve Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz<\/a> have been significantly complicated by the fact that Bouaziz and his lawyer are now in Dubai, according to internal correspondence seen by TechCrunch.<\/p>\n The UAE is a country with a reputation of being a safe haven for those wanting to avoid extradition.<\/p>\n Rippling is trying to serve Bouaziz as part of its blockbuster lawsuit in Ireland against Deel<\/a>. But French bailiffs weren\u2019t able to find Bouaziz<\/a> at an apartment in Paris in his native France last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n The suit accuses Bouaziz of bribing a Rippling employee in Ireland, Keith O\u2019Brien, and the affidavit from the alleged \u2018spy\u2019 reads like it\u2019s out of a movie<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n And Bouaziz isn\u2019t the only one in the UAE. Deel\u2019s legal director Asif Malik has moved to Dubai, Rippling\u2019s legal team said in a court hearing<\/a> last week. Malik, a UK citizen, is the same lawyer who allegedly offered to move O\u2019Brien, Deel\u2019s alleged spy, to Dubai and pay his legal costs in exchange for refusing to cooperate with Rippling, according to O\u2019Brien\u2019s affidavit<\/a>.<\/p>\n The UAE\u2019s legal environment makes things like extraditing people very difficult according to European authorities<\/a>, although it has told media<\/a> that it\u2019s committed to working with international partners on law enforcement and recently stepped up extraditions<\/a> of some long-wanted criminals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bouaziz\u2019s father, the CFO of Deel, who O\u2019Brien claims oversaw payments to him and knew of the scheme, currently lists<\/a> his location as the UAE on X, too.<\/p>\n Deel, along with Alex and Philippe Bouaziz, didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment. Deel has responded<\/a> to Rippling\u2019s lawsuit denying all wrongdoing. Rippling didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n