The Apple logo.
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Six former Apple employees have been charged with fraud for allegedly being directly involved in a scheme via which they deceived the tech giant into matching thousands of dollars in charitable donations to children's NGOs when the former weren't actually making any contributions at all.
The accused, namely, Siu Kei (Alex) Kwan, aged 37, of Castro Valley; Yathei (Hayson) Yuen, aged 34, of San Jose; Yat C (Sunny) Ng, aged 35, of Milpitas, Wentao (Victor) Li, aged 38, from Hayward, Lichao Ni, aged 39, of Sunnyvale; and Zheng Chang, aged 31, from Union City, were charged with a series of felony offenses by Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office in California, US, like grand theft, conspiracy to commit felony grand theft, perjury, and tax fraud.
The six individuals reportedly defrauded Apple's 'Matching Gifts Program' and the State of California across a three-year period between July 1, 2018, and April 6, 2021.
However, according to multiple media reports, Apple has terminated as many as 185 employees from its headquarters in California's Cupertino for being part of this scheme. Several Indians are believed to be among the ones fired, who allegedly exploited the Bay Area-based tech giant by collaborating with Telugu charity organisations present in the US.
Under the supervision of Siu Kei (Alex) Kwan, the other five feigned donations to an organisation named American Chinese International Cultural Exchange (ACICE) or Hop4Kids. In reality, Kwan, the CEO of Hop4Kids and the accountant for ACICE, pocketed Apple's matching payments himself, while secretly returning the the donations of the others back to them. All of the donors, however, deducted their "charitable donations" off their tax returns.
They allegedly defrauded around $152,000 from Apple's employee gift-matching program and overreported about $100,000 in charitable contributions as tax deductions by taking advantage of the scheme.
"This case underscores our unwavering commitment to rigorously prosecuting individuals who defraud the tech community and misuse vital charitable programs and state resources. We commend Apple for coming forward and actively collaborating with our Office to uncover this elaborate fraud. We encourage others in the tech community to do the same. It’s the holidays. Give – legally – to help the needy, not to help yourself," said Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen.