Maybe to him, and to the companies paying the kickback, it is ethically and morally okay to do what they've done. Maybe it's not that he has no ethics or morality, it's just that the standards are different?
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Former Apple Manager Sentenced to One Year in Prison, $4.5 Million Fine in Leaked Secrets Case
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Maybe to him, and to the companies paying the kickback, it is ethically and morally okay to do what they've done. Maybe it's not that he has no ethics or morality, it's just that the standards are different?
He didn't say to keep rapists and murderers in prison. I'd assume he wants them executed too.
When you do as much business with the Chinese as this guy had to do, it's not particularly shocking that their normal way of doing things business-wise would rub off on him.
Kickbacks and back alley deals are commonplace among Chinese vendors and client representatives.
As for the rather vivid description of his prison conditions... More like country club than Attica, I would imagine.
Kickbacks and back alley deals are commonplace among Chinese vendors and client representatives.
As for the rather vivid description of his prison conditions... More like country club than Attica, I would imagine.
When banksters do it they usually don't get into trouble because they're doing it with other banksters and other cronies who control the system. When an individual does it for his own benefit that's when they get into trouble.
That's why when a bankster goes against other cronies they usually get snuffed out. "Suicide" etc.
Just from the example they gave, other supply companies also lost out on opportunities to bid for the Apple contracts successfully as the one supplying kickbacks had an unfair advantage. That's definitely criminal, not civil.
Might as well execute everyone who has done anything wrong a good way to make room for the planet.
Two things...
Doesn't Jonathan Gruber teach economics at MIT? Wonder why he thinks lying and cheating for personal gain at OK.
There is one thing that has served me well:
"I may not tell you everything I know, but what I do tell you will be the truth, and I won't mislead you with that truth."
I'm not saying he is a decent human being or a model employee.
And for the record, this site exists in part because Apple employees, vendors and others have big mouths. Don't make it a crime.
And for the record, this site exists in part because Apple employees, vendors and others have big mouths. Don't make it a crime.
He probably will not get a job as a felon. The exception I have seen are if he has friend to assist him in getting a job. More than likely he will be self employed as he has a pretty unique skill set and education.
He would have been the last person to leak the expected price of something, since he was making money off that secret information.
For the record, I'm not sure how the violation of state fraud/kickback laws became "promoted" to being a Federal case. It could be that because his financial transactions were the result of violating California state law (possibly Penal Code 641.3 PC), his inter-bank transfers then became illegal at the Federal level? Certainly, if it involved a Federal employee or contractor, it would be a Federal case directly, but otherwise, I would think, a violation of state law. I'm not a lawyer, but, if you do go ask a lawyer, I would guess that they would tell you that kickbacks are prohibited in California, period. (As everyone should know, state laws may vary.)
Perhaps someone who followed the case has a better (but not secret) information?
Edit: Some folks may be surprised by how severe the penalty for kickbacks/commercial bribery is (in California):
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You're suggesting he deserves to be repeatedly anally raped in prison because he leaked some corporate trade secrets and took some kickbacks?? Really?
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Don't worry, he will find jesus in prison and in a year you will see him on Oprah promoting his new book (and lecture tour).
Pffft. Seriously!?
Yes, seriously. Thieves, and especially thieves who commit crimes like this and things like identity theft are the lowest form of complex cell life on earth.
They commit their crimes with absolutely no regard for the harm it does to others, and they make the decision to do it with cold calculation. It's not a crime of passion. It's not a crime of desperation. It's a crime of pure, unwavering and remorseless greed. A sign of a soulless individual.
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And there it is folks. The sign of a civilization caving in on itself because of those who promote the fallacy that ethics and morality are malleable, instead of absolute.
Rob a convenience store of $100 and get multiple years in prison.
Take a $1million bribe to defraud your employer and get a year which will most assuredly be less than a year.
Work at a bank and...
Take a $1million bribe to defraud your employer and get a year which will most assuredly be less than a year.
Work at a bank and...
Well, of course he did. He didn't just violate Apple's policy, he profited from it.
Let's say manufacturer X wanted some information early. And X bribed Devine with $100,000 to get that information. So X gave him $100,000, Devine put it in his pocket, and sent the information to X.
Hypothetically, Devine could have send X the information with a bill from Apple for $100,000, X would have paid $100,000, and the money would have landed in Apple's bank account. So basically, the $100,000 is stolen from Apple. Maybe X would have been willing to pay $200,000 for the information if it was all legal, and only $100,000 if it was illegal. In that case, Devine actually stole $200,000 from Apple. That would be the same as someone in an Apple Store selling MacBooks for $500 each, taking them out of the store's warehouse and putting the money into their own pocket.
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Fortunately no first hand experience. There was a TV program in the UK recently, showing how that kind of thing killed a company with 50 employees who all lost their jobs, as one of multiple examples.
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You could say that whenever an Apple employee takes a computer owned by Apple, sells it, and puts the money into his own pocket.
Clearly, the information was owned by Apple, and if someone was willing to pay _him_ for the information, they would have been willing to pay _Apple_ for the information, and probably more since it would have been legitimate (I would pay more for a Mac legally bought at the Apple Store than for one that an employee sneaked out through the back door). So he stole from Apple.
Former Apple Manager Sentenced to One Year in Prison, $4.5 Million Fine in Le...
Very good (inside) job, I hate those peoples! "Never ****** in the hands that feed you!"
Very good (inside) job, I hate those peoples! "Never ****** in the hands that feed you!"
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