Ex-New York transit official charged in $60,000 iPhone scam

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France fines Apple $27 million for intention iPhone 'throttling' controversy
Ex-Metropolitan Transportation Authority official sold taxpayer-funded iPhones.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A former official with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority official has been indicted in an apparent scam in which he purchased almost $60,000 worth of iPhones with taxpayer money — and then sold them for personal gain.

Ex-Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief procurement officer Angel Barbosa has been charged with grand larceny, as well as a charge of filing fake documents from a previous job that allowed him to get a higher salary with the MTA. Barbosa is pleading not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors claim Barbosa ordered a total 63 iPhones from a vendor. This purchase did not proceed according to proper procurement procedures. Barbosa then had the $58,153.57 worth of iPhones shipped to his home address, before they were sold by an associate. The incident took place in 2016.

An MTA spokesperson said Barbosa was fired “as soon as we became aware of allegations of impropriety.” He left the post in 2017 after holding it since 2013.

“Angel Barbosa first cheated New Yorkers out of tens of thousands of dollars in the form of his falsely inflated salary, and then stole nearly $60,000 from taxpayers in a smartphone procurement-and-resale scheme,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in a statement.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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