One, slightly more cynical, theory is that the rogue employee's motivation was to push the research out there in order to create an opportunity for them to engage in their own research or get funding to do that research by making public what they may otherwise have not be authorized to make public. It'll be interesting to see if there are any threats over an NDA or trade secret violations that come out of the original, premature, publication.

Everyone's assuming it's about the Nobel, but it is much more likely it's about far more lucrative goals.