The US Attorney's Office for Northern California has said that a former Apple employee has been found guilty of mail and wire fraud charges related to other crimes that defrauded the company for a value of more than $17 million.
The staff member, Dhirendra Prasad, pleaded guilty to the charges on Tuesday which included conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to defraud the US. Prasad worked for Apple between 2008 and 2018 in the Global Service Supply Chain department, overseeing buying parts and services for the company.
Prasad's written statement says that he began defrauding Apple in 2011 through theft, taking kickbacks (not the first person who has done so), and inflating invoices. Two other people were named as co-conspirators, Robert Gary Hansen and Don M. Baker. They were charged with participation in the crimes and have admitted being involved.
An example of one of the methods used was that Prasad shipped motherboards from Apple to a company owned by Baker. The components were then stripped and sold back to Apple, and any proceeds were then split between the three of them.
Prasad also committed tax fraud by sending payments from Hansen to Prasad's creditors, with a shell company issuing fake invoices to conceal the payments, allowing claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax deductions, costing the IRS more than $1.8 million.
Prasad has been charged with up to 20 years in prison for the mail and wire fraud and an additional five years in prison for defrauding the US. The hearing is currently scheduled for 14th March 2023, and he has also agreed to forfeit assets worth $5 million that he acquired with the proceeds.
Apple is yet to comment on the matter at this time.
Source: CNET
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