Former Apple supplier exec pleads guilty to leaking iPhone secrets

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A former executive at Apple supplier Flextronics has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and security fraud after allegedly leaking details regarding Apple's plans for an unreleased iPhone and the then-unannounced iPad.



Walter Shimoon pleaded guilty on Tuesday at a court in Manhattan, joining 11 others who have submitted guilty pleas in a federal sting cracking down on alleged insider trading stemming from expert network firms, The New York Times reports.



Details of the three-year U.S. Securities Exchange Commission investigation of expert networks and supplier channel checks emerged last fall, with many Wall Street analysts voicing surprise at the probe.



Expert network firms connect "industry experts" with Wall Street analysts and managers, but federal prosecutors have accused the firms of knowingly going beyond "permissible market research" and participating in insider trading.



U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has described the accused individuals as "a corrupt network of insiders at some of the world's leading technology companies " who "sold out their employers by stealing and then peddling their valuable inside information."



Shimoon was arrested last December on the basis of wiretap evidence provided by a cooperating witness. While serving as the senior director of business development at Flextronics, which manufactured chargers for the iPhone, he allegedly provided information on the unreleased iPad, codenamed K48, and an upcoming iPhone, as well as "highly confidential" data regarding Apple's sales forecasts.



"It?s a new category altogether. I believe it?s called K48 ... At Apple, you can get fired for saying K48 ... outside of a meeting that doesn?t have K48 people in it. That?s how crazy they are about it," a transcript of a federal wire tap recorded Shimoon as saying.



In addition to criminal charges, the executive faces civil charges, with the SEC seeking restitution and civil fines from Shimoon and five others, as well as bans that would prevent from serving as officers or directors of any public company.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    You can tell that those guys where the leaks. Since their arrest we are not hearing details about new products.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    blackbookblackbook Posts: 1,361member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    You can tell that those guys where the leaks. Since their arrest we are not hearing details about new products.



    I was thinking the same thing. Thank goodness justice has been served to these people.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    bongobongo Posts: 158member
    IS Foxtronics a Chinese company,I wonder?
  • Reply 4 of 8
    neiltc13neiltc13 Posts: 182member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    You can tell that those guys where the leaks. Since their arrest we are not hearing details about new products.



    Yeah, and it kinda defeats the point of coming to sites like this, Think Secret and MacRumors if they don't post any "insider" info. All we get now is sales figure shill.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    kibitzerkibitzer Posts: 1,114member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bongo View Post


    IS Foxtronics a Chinese company,I wonder?



    Oh brother. You have just put the lie to the adage that there are no dumb questions. Where in the story does it mention FOXtronics? There are FLEXtronics and FoxCONN. Look them up.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    bongobongo Posts: 158member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kibitzer View Post


    Oh brother. You have just put the lie to the adage that there are no dumb questions. Where in the story does it mention FOXtronics? There are FLEXtronics and FoxCONN. Look them up.





    Sorry,my bad.But I read in AI that Foxconn was involved in some case "leak " issues.

    so any ideas what FLEXtronics is ?Is it chinese ,korean or south american?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    kibitzerkibitzer Posts: 1,114member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bongo View Post


    Sorry,my bad.But I read in AI that Foxconn was involved in some case "leak " issues.

    so any ideas what FLEXtronics is ?Is it chinese ,korean or south american?



    I have an excellent idea what Flextronics is, which is none of the above. You should too, after you do your basic Internet search and quit trying to string me along.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    bongobongo Posts: 158member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kibitzer View Post


    I have an excellent idea what Flextronics is, which is none of the above. You should too, after you do your basic Internet search and quit trying to string me along.





    Were you born this way or are you just trying to be stuck up?

    The last post was not aimed at you.So there is no question of "stringing " you along.

    If you do not like my post,just don't reply.

    You come off as someone desperate ,trying too hard to overcompensate picking on members in an online forum.

    Quite macho,are'nt we?



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