Earlier this week, Dhirendra Prasad, an individual of Indian descent who previously served as a staff member of Apple, has been handed a prison sentence of three years. The individual has also been ordered by a US court to provide roughly PKR4.8 billion in restitution for committing fraudulent acts against the tech firm.
The whole story
The former employee of Apple has been convicted of conspiring with others to cheat the company out of millions of dollars and for committing tax crimes that are associated with these offenses. This information has been released in a statement from the US Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California.
As of now, Prasad will spend three years in prison and will be obligated to relinquish all assets and funds that were obtained through fraudulent means from Apple. Furthermore, he must provide compensation for the unpaid taxes he owes. Once his time in prison has been completed, he will be kept under close watch for a period of three years.
Charges against Dhirendra Prasad
The illegal actions that have been committed in this particular case were related to Prasad’s employment at Apple between December 2008 and December 2018. During most of this time, he worked as a “buyer” in Apple’s Global Service Supply Chain. In this role, Prasad was responsible for managing the procurement process through which Apple acquired the parts that were needed to make warranty repairs on older devices.
As per the US Department of Justice, Prasad took advantage of his position and worked in collusion with two different vendors of Apple to deceive the company by receiving kickbacks, stealing parts, exaggerating invoices, and causing Apple to pay for items and services that were never provided. As a result, the company incurred losses that exceeded $17 million (PKR4.8 billion).
Prasad was also involved in two different criminal conspiracies with Apple vendors, avoiding taxes on the proceeds.
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According to the government’s brief on sentencing, Prasad was given extensive liberty to make independent judgments that would benefit his employer due to his position at Apple. “Prasad betrayed this trust and abused his power to enrich himself at the expense of his employer – all while accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and bonuses from Apple.”
Prasad has been claimed to have devised his criminal schemes to remain undetected by using confidential information about the company’s fraud-detection system.
This case definitely serves as a reminder that fraud and unethical behavior in the workplace can have serious consequences. It also highlights the importance of maintaining trust and integrity in business practices and the need for vigilant monitoring of employee actions to prevent fraudulent activities.
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