Apple manager charged with taking kickbacks: reports

By MarketWatch


TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- A manager at Apple Inc. was arrested on Friday and charged with accepting more than $1 million in kickbacks from Asian suppliers of iPhone and iPod accessories, weekend media reports say.

Paul Shin Devine, a global supply manager at the Cupertino, Calif., technology giant, /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 249.20, +0.10, +0.04%) was charged in a federal grand jury indictment with wire fraud, money laundering and other offenses, the media reports say.

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The indictment also names Andrew Ang, an employee of an Apple supplier. An agent at the Internal Revenue Service, which jointly investigated the case with the Federal Bureau of investigation, declined to comment on where Ang might be, the media reports said.

Apple also filed a civil suit against Devine in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., charging fraud and violations of the racketeering laws, the media reports said.

According to the court papers, the authorities and Apple charge that Devine gave certain Apple suppliers information with which they could negotiate favorable contracts with Apple. In return, the suppliers paid Devine, the reports say.

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the civil suit, that Devine began working for Apple in July 2005 with responsibility for managing relationships with suppliers of parts and materials for the iPod music players and related accessories.