According to both federal prosecutors and Cupertino itself, former Apple manager Paul Shin Devine was crooked, accepting almost $1 million in kickbacks from accessory makers in exchange for insider knowledge gleaned from his position as Senior Operations Manager of the iPod division.
On his part, Devine says he’s not guilty, but that claim certainly seems disingenuous: not only is he facing 23 counts of money laundering and wire fraud, but when investigators raided his home they discovered over $150,000 in cash squirreled away in shoeboxes.
Now prosecutors are saying that Devine has more, and they want him to open his safety deposit boxes to see if he’s withholding even more money from them.
The case has already had a devastating effect on Devine and his family: although he is currently out on bail, but he was only able to secure the money necessary for release by allowing his mother to put her house up on lien. I really hope he ends up being innocent of the charges: it’s one thing to rip off Apple, but another thing entirely to let your mother risk homelessness to protect you from justice.
