An Apple manager with responsibilities for the company’s contract manufacturing in Asia was arrested Friday and charged with accepting kickbacks.
Charges were filed against global supply manager Paul Shin Devine last Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, according to court documents. Several news reports said Devine was arrested Friday.
Devine was accused of accepting US$1 million in kickbacks from half a dozen Asian suppliers of iPhone and iPod accessories in a federal indictment and a civil suit, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Devine allegedly was paid for sharing confidential Apple information with contractors that helped them win Apple business on favorable terms, the paper said.
Devine is charged with 15 counts of wire fraud, five counts of money laundering, one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of monetary transactions with criminally derived property, according to court documents.
Wednesday’s indictment was sealed by the court, but Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd ordered it unsealed in a Friday ruling. The unsealed indictment is not yet available through the district court’s website.
An attorney appointment hearing for Devine is scheduled for Monday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Devine gave confidential information to companies like Cresyn in South Korea, Kaedar Electronics in China and Jin Li Mould Manufacturing in Singapore. He allegedly shared the kickbacks with Andrew Ang, an employee of Jin Li who the indictment charges helped broker deals with his employer and others.
Meanwhile, Apple Friday sued Devine in a case in U.S. District Court in San Jose, the Journal said.
