According to information released this week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, a former Apple employee has acknowledged to defrauding the firm of millions of dollars.
Tuesday saw the guilty plea of Dhirendra Prasad, 52, in relation to what the prosecution described as “multiple schemes” involving Apple. Prasad started working for Apple in 2008, but it’s thought he began committing fraud in 2011. As a result, the tech giant suffered a loss of more than $17 million.
The person’s responsibilities at Apple included making purchases from suppliers of goods and services. Prasad is accused of stealing components, inflating invoices, and having Apple pay for items that the company never actually received while performing these tasks.
A news statement by the Department of Justice lists a number of Prasad’s scams, including false invoice actions involving owners of previously charged vendor businesses.
Prasad, whose first charges were made public in March of this year, has now admitted to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud as well as conspiring to defraud the US. The maximum term for the first charge may be as much as 20 years in prison, while the maximum sentence for the second charge is only five years. The verdict is scheduled for next March.