Former Apple Employee Admits to Selling Company Information

It seems like Apple hasn’t been able to catch a break over the past few weeks. First you had the rumors of Jonathan Ive leaving and now you have the story of Paul Devine. In August 2010 Devine was charged with a laundry list of offenses relating to his actions at Apple and today Devine has confessed to a few of those charges.

Specifically, Wire Fraud, Conspiracy and Money Laundering stemming from essentially selling company secrets to competitors. Now Devine finds himself in the position of having to give back some $2.3 million in cash and property while he awaits his June 6th sentencing.

Working as a Global Supply Manager for the iPhone from between 2005 and 2010, Devine was accused (and eventually confessed to) exchanging secrets about upcoming Apple products to suppliers in exchange for a payoff. One can only assume that this information would be useful to a supplier so they could ramp up the cost of doing business, or to minimize the cost of developing the necessary hardware in order to maximize profit.

Either way, Devine is most likely going to serve time for his actions, proving once more that you never mess with Apple.

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