The US Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Deel, a human-resources company, recruited a spy inside a rival firm, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal, and people familiar with the matter. Grand-jury subpoenas were sent out in recent weeks by Craig Missakian, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, the documents show. They seek information related to a spying operation that Deel allegedly ran inside a rival company, Rippling. An Ireland-based Rippling employee, Keith O’Brien, alleged in an affidavit filed in April that Deel Chief Executive Alex Bouaziz recruited him and…

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