Former Apple Employee Pleads Guilty to Receiving Kickbacks

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Ex-Apple employee Paul Devine pleaded guilty in a San Jose federal court to receiving kickbacks from Asian suppliers in order to ensure they would have a favorable contract with Apple. Devine, who worked as a global supply manager, was accused of passing confidential information, according to Reuters. Accepting the charge of wire fraud and money laundering, he will give up about $2.28 million in money and property and faces up to 20 years in jail.

“In pleading guilty, Devine admitted to engaging in a scheme to defraud Apple, Inc., of its money or property and its right to his honest services while he was employed with the company from 2005 through 2010,” the press release from the U.S. Department of Justice stated. “In addition, Devine admitted to transferring the proceeds of the wire fraud between various bank accounts in the U.S. and overseas in order to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds; and to conducting financial transactions with criminally-derived property worth more than $10,000.”

According to the civil suit brought up by Apple against the former employee, the company found a cache of emails through an internal investigation that showed that Devine was sending confidential information to third party suppliers. A civil lawsuit is pending the outcome of the criminal prosecution.

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