Apple: employee cheated tech company out of 17 million

Apple was defrauded of 17 million US dollars. The gigantic amount of damage was caused by a single man who, among other things, stole hardware from the tech company in order to sell it to the company for a profit. Now the fraudster faces several years in prison.

Systematic fraud over 7 years

Apple is currently taking legal action against a former employee who worked for 10 years at the inventor of the iPhone. Over a period from 2011 to 2018, this allegedly cost the group 17 million US dollars through various frauds. At the company, the alleged criminal, who has since confessed to his crime, worked in purchasing. Here, he took advantage of his position to increase invoices, steal hardware, accept kickbacks and fabricate invoices for items Apple never purchased, according to law enforcement officials.

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The passing on and subsequent re-purchase of Apple hardware seems particularly brazen. For example, he is said to have stolen Motherboads without permission and then handed them over to an accomplice friend. In the friend’s company, they then dismantled the individual components to then sell them back to Apple. In the end, Apple bought back hardware that had previously been stolen from the tech company itself. There are said to have been several of these connections to other companies, which is why the accused is considered the string puller in the matter.

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Sentencing could be coming in March

Incidentally, the injured parties do not only include Apple. On top of that, the former employee of the tech company is said to have caused $1.8 million in damages to the US. This he has made by sophisticated tax evasion. He is said to have issued fictitious invoices on a large scale in order to be able to share his captured money with his accomplices. The machinations of the accused will soon have legal consequences. It is expected that he will be sentenced in March of next year. It should be clear to everyone that the whole thing will not result in a pittance. Due to the fraud and tax evasion, a maximum of 25 years in prison is at stake. Since the defendant has meanwhile confessed, however, there will probably be a reduction in the sentence.