Former Apple Employee Sentenced to Prison for Conspiracy and Tax Crimes

SAN JOSE – In a shocking case of corporate betrayal, 55-year-old Dhirendra Prasad has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $19,270,683 in restitution for conspiring to defraud Apple, Inc., of millions of dollars and for related tax crimes, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Darren Lian.

The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Beth L. Freeman, United States District Judge, who also ordered Prasad to forfeit over $5,491,713 worth of assets already seized by the government.

According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Prasad exploited his position as a buyer in Apple’s Global Service Supply Chain to facilitate kickbacks, steal parts, inflate invoices, and cause Apple to pay for items and services it never received – resulting in a loss to Apple of more than $17,000,000.

Prasad pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and tax evasion. The remaining counts were dismissed at sentencing.

In addition to the prison sentence and restitution order, Judge Freeman also entered an order of supervised release, requiring Prasad to serve three years after the prison term, and ordered him to pay an additional forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $8,133,005.

The investigation was led by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and Assistant United States Attorneys Michael G. Pitman and Karen Beausey are prosecuting the case.

As a high-ranking employee at Apple, Prasad was given substantial discretion to make autonomous decisions to benefit his employer. However, he betrayed this trust and abused his power to enrich himself at his employer’s expense, using his insider information to design his criminal schemes to avoid detection.

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