Former Apple Manager Sentenced to One Year in Prison, $4.5 Million Fine in Leaked Secrets Case

MacRumors · Dec 8, 2014

Former Apple Global Supply Manager Paul Devine will face a year in prison and a hefty $4.5 million fine for leaking secrets of the company to various accessory manufacturers in exchange for kickbacks, reports Associated Press.

The sentencing comes over three years after Devine pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy in relation to the leaking of Apple secrets. At the time, Devine faced a possible twenty-year sentencing over the fraud and money laundering counts.

(Image via 9to5Mac)

Devine was Apple's Global Supply Manager for five years, from 2005 through his arrest in August of 2010. The specifics of why Devine received a far shorter sentence than the possible twenty years he originally faced and the basis of the $4.5 million fine are unclear, as Devine's kickback amount was previously estimated at roughly $1 million.

One of the confirmed companies Devine received kickbacks from was Kaedar Electronics, which was a subsidiary of long-time Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron. Kaedar supplied Apple with iPod packing boxes starting in 2005, and admitted to paying kickbacks to an intermediary company between 2005 and 2008 in exchange for confidential Apple information that assisted certain contract negotiations with the company.

Article Link: Former Apple Manager Sentenced to One Year in Prison, $4.5 Million Fine in Leaked Secrets Case

user418 · Dec 8, 2014

Somewhat sad in a sense. With that educational background his options were many. He'll land on his feet somewhere I'd imagine.

AgentOO7 · Dec 8, 2014

Yes, but education doesn't give you ethics or morality.

user418 said:
Somewhat sad in a sense. With that educational background his options were many. He'll land on his feet somewhere I'd imagine.

Gasu E. · Dec 8, 2014

user418 said:
Somewhat sad in a sense. With that educational background his options were many. He'll land on his feet somewhere I'd imagine.

Not likely with a criminal record based on stealing from your company.

pubb · Dec 8, 2014

OK, so he violated Apple's policy on secrecy and ethical sourcing.

Did this guy actually commit a crime? Why would the public have an interest in his incarceration?

Pubb

Vulkan · Dec 8, 2014

user418 said:
Somewhat sad in a sense. With that educational background his options were many. He'll land on his feet somewhere I'd imagine.

There is no bachelors degree from MIT, Harvard or YALE that can save you when you are tagged as a fraud and a thief.

All that education, didn't teach him one iota... He had the knowledge and power to make it to the top, working hard with sacrifice. Instead he took his MIT background and try to coast his way to the top.

Good Riddance, I hope he becomes someone's sweetheart in jail.

KdParker · Dec 8, 2014

I wonder how much this guy was being paid by Apple that he felt the need to pad his income with kick back money.

Those must have been some huge kick backs.

jonAppleSeed · Dec 8, 2014

pubb said:
OK, so he violated Apple's policy on secrecy and ethical sourcing.

Did this guy actually commit a crime? Why would the public have an interest in his incarceration?

Pubb

His crime was wire fraud and money laundering

NSeven · Dec 8, 2014

They are all the same, thief's, crooks and scam artists, he should be executed..

He needs to be made an example of.

roadbloc · Dec 8, 2014

NSeven said:
They are all the same, thief's, crooks and scam artists, he should be executed..

He needs to be made an example of.

Pffft. Seriously!?

philipk · Dec 8, 2014

pubb said:
OK, so he violated Apple's policy on secrecy and ethical sourcing.

Did this guy actually commit a crime? Why would the public have an interest in his incarceration?

Pubb

The typical belief that white-collar crime doesn't really hurt anyone.

I have first hand experience that white-collar crime does hurt people. It often robs them of their futures and their jobs. Companies go broke because of people like him.

We will throw someone in prison for 8 years for possession of crack cocaine while slapping someone on the wrist for what he did.

So I disagree with you.

jnpy!$4g3cwk · Dec 8, 2014

pubb said:
OK, so he violated Apple's policy on secrecy and ethical sourcing.

Did this guy actually commit a crime? Why would the public have an interest in his incarceration?

The article says he received approximately $1M to defraud Apple.

The public has an interest in punishing people who cheat. This isn't a victimless crime. He defrauded Apple shareholders and customers, and, made a significant amount of money doing it.

jthompson666 · Dec 8, 2014

some of the replies here...... Wow

pubb · Dec 8, 2014

I never said white collar crime was victimless. I just don't see an actual criminal act here.

As I understand the events, he gave specifications of Apple products to suppliers. That's a violation of ethics and the NDA he presumably signed when he got hired. Rightfully, that's a civil action, not criminal action. He lied to his employer, which is not a crime.

Apple lost out on possible revenue. Apple's individual shareholders lost a negligible but non-zero amount of value (revenue diluted by share). He did not defraud Apple.

Candidly, filtering the money through various subsidiaries as he is alleged to have done is not, in and of itself, illegal. Just like Apple Europe filters every foreign sale so as to leave the money in Ireland where tax laws are favorable. I'm not a lawyer or forensic accountant and I don't have the details on this, so I can't say he did or did not launder money illegally. Just saying that shell games with money isn't necessary illegal.

If he did not fail to pay taxes on the money, the IRS would be all over him and presumably, the article would address that.

samcraig · Dec 8, 2014

Hmm in a previous MR article, it was over 2 million in kickbacks..

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/01/former-apple-supply-manager-pleads-guilty-in-kickback-scheme/

quickcalibre · Dec 8, 2014

Glad they caught him.

lincolntran · Dec 8, 2014

I'm pretty sure Apple paid him a large paycheck every two weeks but I guess greed can get anyone. He went to MIT but still unwise!

nt5672 · Dec 8, 2014

This happens all the time and no one gets punished. At least I'm sure that's what he thought. If more of these people were punished it would make ethics in the corporate world a much higher priority.

Anyone here who believes corporate ethics suck, should be happy he was caught and punished.

Kissaragi · Dec 8, 2014

When you have a no doubt hefty paycheck just be happy with what you have!

ArtOfWarfare · Dec 8, 2014

$1M is all he needed to be bribed? How little was he being paid?

Bobby Corwen · Dec 8, 2014

You can tell from that picture, he's the sociopathic type that hides it well under a veneer of fake-ness.

I say hang him in the central square of the Apple Campus to make an example for any would-be leakers.

philipk · Dec 8, 2014

pubb said:
I never said white collar crime was victimless. I just don't see an actual criminal act here....

Apple lost out on possible revenue. Apple's individual shareholders lost a negligible but non-zero amount of value (revenue diluted by share). He did not defraud Apple.

This is commonly known as the Napster defense. Yes it is wrong to download copyrighted music without paying for it but no one was defrauded.

Wrong!

chasemac · Dec 8, 2014

Man, he's going to the Federal PMITA Prison.#

iMerik · Dec 8, 2014

Bobby Corwen said:
You can tell from that picture, he's the sociopathic type that hides it well under a veneer of fake-ness.

I say hang him in the central square of the Apple Campus to make an example for any would-be leakers.

Finish up by quartering him and sending his pieces to other Apple Campuses and even Apple Stores... a traveling display of sorts.

But seriously, I applaud whenever white-collar crimes are prosecuted, as they sometimes (probably often times) affect many more people than, say robbing a gas station.

TsMkLg068426 · Dec 8, 2014

NSeven said:
They are all the same, thief's, crooks and scam artists, he should be executed..

He needs to be made an example of.

Yeah lets just execute people for crimes like this but keep rapist and murderers in prison, that makes a lot more sense.

Former Apple Manager Sentenced to One Year in Prison, $4.5 Million Fine in Leaked Secrets Case

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