Former Apple manager pleads guilty of bribe-taking

PanARMENIAN.Net - A former Apple employee has pleaded guilty to charges of accepting bribes from Asian component suppliers. Paul Devine, 37, who was the global supply manager at Apple had passed confidential information to the suppliers to help them negotiate favorable contracts with Apple.

When he was arrested last August, he was found to have roughly US$150,000 and US$20,000 in foreign currency hidden in old shoe-boxes in his home, cellular-news reports.

Devine joined the company as a Global Supply Manager in July 2005, and has admitted to causing a loss to Apple of around US$2 million, and received payments of at least US$1 million. He was also paid a salary of US$614,000 with bonuses of US$51,000 from Apple, along with share-options over the five years that he worked for the company.

He will be sentenced on June 6, and could face up to 20 years in jail on charges of wire fraud and money laundering - which carry stiffer sentences than the conspiracy charges covering his bribery activities.

He has already agreed to give up US$2.28 million in money and property, the US attorney's office announced.