Ex-Apple Employee Charged for Alleged Fraud – bestinau

U.S. prosecutors have charged a former Apple employee with defrauding the tech giant out of over $ 10 million over several schemes, Reuters says.

The defendant, Dhirendra Prasad, will face five criminal counts after he took advantage of his position of trust as a buyer in Apple’s supply chain. He was fired in December of 2018, following 10 years being employed there.

According to prosecutors, Prasad, as an Apple buyer, negotiated with vendors and placed orders.

Apple made payments because of invoice amounts he put into its purchasing system, the report notes. Prasad reportedly defrauded the company by taking kickbacks, stealing parts using false repair orders and causing Apple to pay for items and services it did not receive.

And according to prosecutors, Prasad evaded taxes on and laundered proceeds from his schemes.

PYMNTS wrote that in other Apple-related news, the company is facing regulatory challenges against its App Store revenue.

Read more: Apple Could Play This Card to Delay Implementation of EU App Store Bill

The company does have some legal arguments that might help it offset the implementation of new provisions in the European Commission Digital Markets Act, which will look at increasing competition among digital platforms through some limits on big tech companies.

The new requirements will make it so Apple has to allow software to be downloaded outside its App Store, which is how it has usually cornered the market.

This will let other companies use other payment systems for apps.

PYMNTS writes that this law is slated to be approved by European institutions before the summer. It will probably be enforced six months after its passing.

But in spite of that, Apple has fought any attempt to open up its app store to third parties, challenging various other kinds of regulations.

The reason comes down to more than just the financial – if it complies, the company might weaken its own privacy and safety arguments to keep its system closed.