Apple insider charged over kickbacks

 

Gallery

By Reuters

Posted on 16 Aug 2010 at 08:10

A manager at Apple has been charged with taking kickbacks for leaking corporate secrets to Asian companies that supplied iPhone and iPod accessories, according to court documents.

Paul Shin Devine, a global supply manager at Apple since 2005, was accused by federal authorities in California of accepting kickbacks from six unnamed Asian companies in South Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore.

Devine, 37, also faces a civil suit filed by Apple, which accuses him of receiving more than $1 million in payments and bribes over several years, said a report in the San Jose Mercury News.

Devine has been charged in a federal grand jury indictment with 23 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and accepting kickbacks, court documents showed.

"Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business," said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling, according to the Mercury News. "We have zero tolerance for dishonest behaviour inside or outside the company."

Devine allegedly used his position to obtain confidential information that he shared with Apple suppliers to help them negotiate favourable contracts with the company, according to the indictment.

In return, the charges say, the suppliers paid Devine kickbacks, which he allegedly shared with Andrew Ang of Singapore, who was also charged with three counts of wire fraud and conspiracy.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service.