Donation fraud: Six employees allegedly defrauded Apple of 152,000 dollars
Six former Apple employees are alleged to have taken advantage of a donation top-up program offered to them by their employer.
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Six former Apple employees in California have been charged with six-figure donation fraud. Between July 2018 and April 2021, they are alleged to have caused massive damage to their former employer in particular by taking advantage of a top-up program offered by the iPhone manufacturer that doubles donations for good causes. According to the indictment, a total of 152,000 US dollars is involved. They also allegedly harmed the state through tax evasion.
The six suspects, aged between 31 and 39, allegedly pretended to donate to the American Chinese International Cultural Exchange (ACICE) or the Hop4Kids initiative, which supports poor families. Apple doubled these donations, which the company allows employees to do as part of the Apple Matching Gifts Program up to a total of 10,000 US dollars per year.
How the trick worked
In reality, however, the alleged mastermind among the defendants booked the donations back to the employees and pocketed Apple's contribution. This is how the public prosecutor's office of Santa Clara County describes it in a press release. This was possible because the audited accountant was also the managing director of Hop4Kids and the accountant for ACICE and was therefore able to initiate the chargebacks. All donation bookings were processed via a platform called Benevity. All of the "benefactors" had nevertheless written off their donations totaling 100,000 US dollars in their tax returns, which is why the charge is also tax evasion.
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The alleged mastermind encouraged the other defendants to participate and offered them free or discounted help with their tax returns in return, it is said. Arrest warrants have been issued for all of the defendants.
All defendants in custody
Due to the extent of the scheme, the participants face long prison sentences if convicted. They are accused of theft, conspiracy to commit grand theft, perjury and tax fraud. In addition, the public prosecutor's office is arguing that the crimes should be classified as white-collar crime. The relevant laws have only just been tightened, they say.
(mki)
