Apple manager charged with taking over US$1 million in kickbacks from suppliers

August 16, 2010

A global supply manager for Apple Inc. was arrested Friday in California and indicted for and, after accepting over US$1 million in kickbacks. The manager, 37-year-old Paul Shin Devine, used a system of international bank accounts and a in order to receive the payments, reported the .

Andrew Ang, of Singapore, was also named in the indictment. Ang is accused of receiving confidential data, as well as accepting a portion of the kickbacks paid to Devine.

Devine, who lives in, allegedly passed on confidential information to Asian suppliers of and  accessories in exchange for more than US$1 million. The suppliers were then able to use the information to negotiate better contracts with Apple.  named several of the suppliers in question as China-based Kaedar Electronics, South Korea-based Cresyn, and Singapore-based Jin Li Mould Manufacturing, where Ang had worked until 2008.

According to his profile, Devine was a 1996 graduate of the  and a 2005 graduate from the. He began working at in 1998 and left to join Apple in 2005.

In addition to the 23-count federal indictment, Devine is also the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by Apple. The company said that he took more than US$1 million in "payments, kickbacks and bribes" over a period of several years. An Apple spokesperson said that the company "is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way [it does] business," and that there is "zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company."

Devine is being held by the and was scheduled to appear in a hearing at the  in San Jose, California at 1:30 p.m.  (20:30 ) today. He was not available for comment.