A former employee admits to defrauding Apple of more than $17 million and faces up to 20 years in prison

CTOnews.com, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) A former parts and service buyer at Apple has pleaded guilty to defrauding Apple and received more than $17 million (124 million yuan) and now faces up to 20 years in prison.

Dhirendra Prasad was first charged with fraud in March 2022, when he was accused of getting kickbacks and making Apple pay for undelivered goods and services. He worked in Apple's global service supply chain, claiming at the time that he had defrauded the company of $10 million during his 10 years of work since 2008.

Now, according to CNET, Dhirendra Prasad has pleaded guilty to the charges and admitted to receiving more than $17 million in a written plea statement. CTOnews.com learned that he announced that he had been defrauding Apple since 2011 and that the plan included false invoices.

Dhirendra Prasad worked with two accomplices, Robert Gary Hansen and Don M. Baker, both of whom were charged and admitted to being involved. The trio used a shell company to hide illegal payments and are said to have benefited from unreasonable tax cuts in the process.

CNET stated that Dhirendra Prasad had agreed to confiscate $5 million of unidentified assets purchased with the money. He faces up to 20 years in prison for mail fraud and telecommunications fraud, and could be sentenced to another five years in prison for fraud in the United States.