Happened at a (large) company I worked for in the past. A devops guy stole the DB ahead of going to work with a rival, he was caught and the rival of course wanted nothing to do with it. I'm not sure of his fate but it couldn't have been much fun.
A mature organization does not want the liability and if contacted by previous employer with evidence of these kinds of allegations, immediately gives said employees the boot.
Happens occasionally at big corporations, even the bloodsucking vampire. Best to distance yourself from such employees - lest they will do to you what they have done to others.
The difference is, relative to OpenAi they have standards and morals.
> the rival of course wanted nothing to do with it
The key difference here seems to be that OpenAI very much wants something to do with it.