Former Employee Accused of Defrauding Apple for $10 Million

Bottom Line: An ex-Apple employee who spent ten years as a buyer in the company’s Global Service Supply Chain has been accused of defrauding Cupertino for more than $10 million by taking bribes, stealing equipment and launder money.

A federal criminal case alleges Dhirendra Prasad, 52, abused his position to defraud Apple through various schemes, including stealing parts using false repair orders and making the tech giant pay for goods and services it never received. Prosecutors estimate Apple’s losses from Prasad’s alleged actions during the ten years he worked there (December 2008 to December 2018) at about $10 million.

Using a court order, the federal government seized five Prasad real estate and financial accounts worth approximately $5 million related to the alleged criminal activity. The US Attorney’s office in San Jose said the government would try to preserve the assets as proceeds of crime.

Prosecutors said two supplier company owners who did business with Apple admitted to working with Prasad to commit fraud and money laundering.

Prasad is due to appear in a US court in San Jose this Thursday, where he will be charged with involvement in a conspiracy to commit fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. Each charge carries a prison sentence of five to 20 years, although ABC notes that most people convicted of fraud receive less than the maximum sentence.

Last month, news broke that a Chinese citizen was sentenced to 26 months in prison after tricking Apple into giving him more than $1 million worth of iPhones by sending counterfeits to Cupertino’s warranty replacement program. However, unlike the latter case, that person has never worked for Apple.

Photo in the middle by Matthew Ansley

This post Former Employee Accused of Defrauding Apple for $10 Million

was original published at “https://www.techspot.com/news/93858-former-employee-charged-defrauding-apple-out-10-million.html”