Apple employees fired over charity donation matching fraud

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion

Apple has reportedly fired around 50 employees for misusing a charitable grants program, taking the funds for themselves as extra pay.

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Apple Park



Apple, like other major employers, offer various grants and programs to help employees and charities. After an investigation, it appears that some employees have decided to misappropriate grant funds to line their pockiets.

Around 50 employees were fired from Apple's Cupertino headquarters, for misusing the Matching Gifts program. A corporate social responsibility initiative, it is intended to match the donations of employees to non-profit organizations.

India Today reports allegations that some employees worked with select non-profit organizations to exploit the program. Donations, including matched portions by Apple, were funneled back to employees.

The firings follow after six former Apple employees were accused in Decemberof stealing $152,000 of funds from the program over a three-year period.

It is unclear how much in total was siphoned from Apple by all of the charged and fired employees. As investigations continue, more ex-employee arrests could be made.

In the case of the six employees accused by Santa Clara County, the donations were made to two non-profits, consisting of the American Chinese International Cultural Exchange and Hop4Kids. One of the six, identified as Siu Kei Kwan, acted as the CEO of Hop4Kids as well as an accountant for ACICE.

As well as handing donated funds to employees, Kwan also wrote off the donations on tax returns on behalf of the defendants.

Charges against the six include grand theft, conspiracy to commit felony, perjury, and tax fraud.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    SnickersMagooSnickersMagoo Posts: 79member
    I'm so glad these SCUMBAGS were caught!     I hope they all rot in Jail!
    watto_cobra9secondkox2
  • Reply 2 of 8
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,523member
    Did any of the donations go to George Costanza's The Human Fund?
    AppleZuluwatto_cobraSmittyW
  • Reply 3 of 8
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 2,246member
    mikethemartian said:
    Did any of the donations go to George Costanza's The Human Fund?
    They must’ve invited Tim Cook to their family Festivus celebration to try to convince him this was legit. That never works. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 8
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,953member
    Imagine losing your great job that you worked your ass off for, working at a great company in an amazing state of the art building for something so stupid. It's not like Apple doesn't already pay them well. People are just dumb! SMH
    MplsPronnpaisleydiscomuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 5 of 8
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 3,197member
    “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” “mess around and find out” etc. all fit the theme here. 

    As others have said, unbelievable to attain such a position with the world’s most admired company … and do this. 

    Just tragic. 

    The complicit nonprofits need to be investigated as well. One of the criminal employees was the ceo of one and the accountant for the other? What? Sounds like apple may go after the Chinese exchange and hops4kids may go after the ex employee as well. Those donations belong to the nonprofit. So he stole from apple AND ATHE NONPROFIT HE WORKED FOR. Sick. 
    edited January 9
  • Reply 6 of 8
    ronnronn Posts: 692member

    Very shoddy journalism, at best. This India Today “report” is all over the place. Initially 185 were sacked by Apple — now down to “about 50” — and “there are many Indians amongst the fired employees.” Yet not one Indian is named. Just six non-Indians charged months ago. There are no links to charges, investigations or allegations for these bad Indians beyond the biased “news” sources quoting each other. Oy vey! 

    SmittyW
  • Reply 7 of 8
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,498member
    Six employees were charged, which becomes a matter of public record. Assuming guilt is proved, I'd want them to be jailed and fined harshly. That doesn't seem to happen often.

    'Around fifty' have been fired. With no charges yet filed, it'd be wrong to name them. We're supposed to be a country of due process, innocent until proven guilty. There have somewhat recently been an infamous example of doxing someone who were innocent. That shouldn't be how it works.

    So if and when any of the 'About Fifty' are charged, they become fair game for publication. Should Apple make a misstep in naming someone, they could end up paying more than they suspected any individual fraudulently gained. Upset because "Indians weren't named and only non-Indians were" reads very xenophobic. 

    AI isn't an investigative news platform, so my only problem would be if they were to report bad information. That they provided basically highlights or the reporting of other sources doesn't bother me. I never would have checked India Time to see if anything's poppin'. Whether or not IT does investigative journalism is beyond my kin or interest.
    muthuk_vanalingamronn
  • Reply 8 of 8
    ronnronn Posts: 692member
    macgui said:
    Six employees were charged, which becomes a matter of public record. Assuming guilt is proved, I'd want them to be jailed and fined harshly. That doesn't seem to happen often.

    'Around fifty' have been fired. With no charges yet filed, it'd be wrong to name them. We're supposed to be a country of due process, innocent until proven guilty. There have somewhat recently been an infamous example of doxing someone who were innocent. That shouldn't be how it works.

    So if and when any of the 'About Fifty' are charged, they become fair game for publication. Should Apple make a misstep in naming someone, they could end up paying more than they suspected any individual fraudulently gained. Upset because "Indians weren't named and only non-Indians were" reads very xenophobic. 

    AI isn't an investigative news platform, so my only problem would be if they were to report bad information. That they provided basically highlights or the reporting of other sources doesn't bother me. I never would have checked India Time to see if anything's poppin'. Whether or not IT does investigative journalism is beyond my kin or interest.

    *sigh*

    From reddit (although similar comments have been made elsewhere)

    Mint points to NBC, which only indicates six seemingly Taiwanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese individuals from Apple who have been fired and charged by courts. No other US news source points to any number such as 185. The only other source which all the Indian news outlets seem to be pointing to is greatandhra, and if you know about it, you also know that it is a movies and gossips site with no real credibility.

    If this news were true, US media would be all over it especially when there are discussions around H-1Bs going on in the political discourse. It would cause massive outrage.

    I’d be happy to be proven wrong, but this seems to be fake news that is being lapped up because it helps reinforce certain stereotypes.
    India Times & Great Andrha are garbage sites with extreme rightwing viewpoints. They are stirring the pot without a shred of evidence that 185... no, "around 50" scammers were sacked by Apple, with "many of the fired employees.. of Indian origin, with some allegedly connected to Telugu community organisations in the US." They like to target Tegulu people and politicians. They go hard against H-1B visa holders. That's why AI should vet "sources" before publishing garbage like this. 
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