Former Apple worker alleged to have defrauded company out of $10m

US federal government seizes assets amounting to $5m

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Image: Shutterstock via Dennis

21 March 2022

A former Apple employee has been charged for allegedly defrauding Apple out of more than $10 million worth of products and services.

The 52-year-old former staffer in Apple’s global service supply chain, Dhirendra Prasad, has been accused by prosecutors of using his position to develop relationships with suppliers to take kickbacks and steal equipment, according to Associated Press.

Prasad allegedly completed repair forms to steal equipment and has also been charged with causing the company to pay for products and services it never received. He will appear in court on 30 March to answer the charges brought against him.

Prasad worked at Apple for a decade between 2008 and 2018 and has been handed a total of five indictments including two counts of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, two counts of conspiracy to launder fraud proceeds, and one charge of tax evasion.

The US federal government has been allowed to seize assets amounting to $5 million from Prasad in a civil forfeiture which includes five real estate properties and a number of financial accounts. The US Attorney’s office in San Jose said the government is seeking to keep these seized assets as proceeds of crime.

The owners of two separate suppliers that worked with Prasad have admitted conspiring with the former Apple employee to commit fraud and launder money in separate federal cases.

Attempts to defraud Apple were previously made by two Chinese students studying in the US in 2019. The pair were accused of sending thousands of fake iPhones to Apple for repairs to then sell on in China for profit.

The fake devices were so convincing that Apple’s repair technicians were reportedly unable to determine that they were counterfeit models, they were deemed to have merely been tampered with – a crucial distinction.

Nearly half of the 3,069 devices were repaired by Apple and sent back to the pair which were then shipped to China for sale and the profits allegedly being wired to their US bank accounts by the mother to one of the students.

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