An Apple Inc manager was indicted by a federal grand jury in California for wire fraud and money laundering, according to court records.
Paul Shin Devine, an Apple global supply manager, is accused of taking at least US$1 million in kickbacks from Asian suppliers, including China’s Kaedar Electronics Co (凱達電子), Cresyn Co of South Korea, and Singapore-based Jin Li Mould Manufacturing Pte, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
Devine and Andrew Ang were named as defendants in a US grand jury indictment on Wednesday in the US District Court in San Jose that was unsealed on Friday, according to the court docket. The charging documents weren’t immediately available.
Devine gave the suppliers of iPhone and iPod accessories confidential data that helped them win better contracts from Apple in exchange for payments, the WSJ reported, citing the indictment and a civil suit filed against him by Apple.
He shared some of the proceeds with Ang, who was once employed by Jin Li, according to the report.
Kaedar Electronics Co is fully owned by Pegatron Corp (和碩), the manufacturing unit spun off from Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), and makes plastic cases for products such as iPhones and iPods, although it doesn’t supply Apple directly, Jonathan Chang (張昭平), deputy spokesman for Taipei-based Pegatron said yesterday.
Pegatron is a supplier for Apple and hasn’t been contacted about the allegations, Chang said.
Cresyn signed a consulting agreement with an Apple employee it didn’t name, the Seoul-based company said in an e-mailed statement.
The only information it got was “limited to the trends in the US market, and we neither requested nor received any information regarding technologies,” Cresyn said.
Jin Li hasn’t been served any lawsuits and Ang left the company in 2008, Nadia Teh, business development manager for the Singapore-based company said by telephone yesterday.
Devine, 37, is now in custody, the San Jose Mercury News reported, and couldn’t be reached for comment. He was scheduled to appear in court yesterday for a hearing on the appointment of a lawyer. A spokesman for the US attorney’s office also couldn’t be reached.
Devine used a chain of foreign and domestic bank accounts along with one front company to receive payments, the Mercury News reported. Code words, such as “sample,” were used to refer to the payments to avoid suspicion of other Apple employees, the paper said.
Apple has “zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company,” spokesman Steve Dowling said in a statement, according to the Mercury News and WSJ reports. Dowling didn’t immediately return a message from Bloomberg seeking further comment.
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