Who is Dhirendra Prasad, an Indian-origin man who stole Rs 138 crore from Apple?
Dhirendra Prasad, a former Apple employee, has been making headlines recently for all the wrong reasons. The 55-year-old was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $19 million in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud Apple and related tax crimes.
How did it all go down?
Prasad worked at Apple between 2008 and 2018, primarily as a buyer in the company’s global service supply chain. He was responsible for purchasing parts and services from vendors. Dhirendra Prasad’s position at Apple granted him significant autonomy to make decisions that would benefit the company.
However, Prasad abused that trust and used his power to enrich himself while accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and bonuses from Apple. He started siphoning money from the company around 2011 by accepting kickbacks, stealing parts, inflating invoices, and fraudulently charging Apple for goods that were never delivered.
A government memorandum also stated that Prasad utilized his insider knowledge of the company’s fraud detection methods to design schemes that would avoid detection.
Aside from the three-year prison term, the judge ordered Prasad to forfeit assets worth over $5.4 million (Rs 44.14 crore) that have already been seized by the government. Additionally, Prasad must pay an additional forfeiture money judgment of $8.1 million (Rs 66.21 crore). The judge also entered an order of restitution, requiring Prasad to pay $17,398,104 (Rs 142.25 crore) to Apple and $1,872,579 (Rs 15.31 crore) to the IRS. Finally, Prasad has been sentenced to three years of supervised release, which will begin after he serves his prison term.
Prasad also admitted to evading tax on the proceeds of his schemes and conspiring with the owners of two vendor companies, who have been charged in separate cases.
The case has garnered a lot of attention due to the sheer magnitude of the theft and the fact that it was committed by someone who had access to sensitive information within one of the world’s most valuable companies.
