Federal prosecutors last week charged a former Apple employee with defrauding the company out of more than $10 million.
Dhirendra Prasad, 52, worked as a buyer in Apple’s global service supply chain for a decade between December 2008-2018—during which he allegedly accepted kickbacks, stole equipment, and laundered money, the Associated Press reported.
Prasad now faces five criminal counts in San Jose federal court, including conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to launder fraud proceeds, tax evasion, and conspiring to help a co-conspirator evade their taxes.
The federal government has seized from Prasad five real estate properties and financial accounts worth about $5 million, to be kept as “proceeds of crime,” according to San Jose US Attorney Stephanie Hinds.
Prasad’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, March 24. It’s unclear whether he has retained a lawyer, and a phone number listed for him was disconnected.
Fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion each carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, the AP noted. However, California guidelines and individual judges’ discretion mean many people convicted of fraud in federal court receive lesser penalties like time in county jail or felony probation.
Two owners of vendor companies that did business with Apple and who allegedly conspired with Prasad pleaded guilty to related charges in December. The pair were identified by the CBS SF Bay Area news site as Robert Gary Hansen and Don M. Baker.
Apple did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment. The tech giant last year sued Simon Lancaster, former materials lead, for allegedly stealing and leaking company trade secrets to a journalist.
