Former Apple Supply Chain Manager Faces Prison Time for Kickback Scheme
Scandals always make the news, especially when they involve high-profile companies like Apple. In 2010, Apple’s former Global Supply Chain Manager Paul Devine was involved in a conspiracy to sell Apple product details to Asian manufactures. Three years later, he has finally been fined $4.5 million and sentenced to one year in prison for his role in the kickback scheme.
Devine has been on supervised probation for the past three years after posting bail. He was granted bail of $500,000 because he promised he would not flee. Devine plead guilty in 2011 but was only just recently sentenced because of other pending investigations. His prison term will begin on February 19, 2015. Devine also had to forfeit all money gained from the scheme.
The sentence involved 23 counts against Devine for things such as laundering money, fraud, and kickbacks. Devine abused his position at Apple as a senior supply chain manager to gain access to Apple product information and secrets and then sell it to some of Apple’s suppliers and others. He obviously was fired because of his part in the scheme, but it’s unclear how many people were involved. Devine is fasing the biggest charges.
During the scheme, the kickbacks were deposited into several bank accounts under Devine’s name in both the U.S. and South Korea. When Devine originally plead guilty, a large sum of money was immediately seized from his home as well as more than $3 million in assets from his bank accounts. There is a $4.5 million fine on top of that.
Devine was not the only individual charged in the supply chain kickback scheme. Chua Kim Guan was also charged in Singaporean courts. This was reported by the U.S. Department of Justice. He gave $563,000 to Devine for Apple product information.
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