Apple security chief accused of attempted bribery of police officers

Apple’s global security chief, 50-year-old Thomas Moyer, was charged with attempted bribery of police officers. He allegedly offered hundreds of free iPads to law enforcement officials in Santa Clara County, where Apple is headquartered, in exchange for concealed weapons permits for company employees.

Between February and August 2019, Sheriff Lance Rick Sung and Captain James Jensen refused to issue a concealed-carry weapon (CCW) license to four Apple employees unless they received something in return, prosecutors said. Court papers state that in response, Moyer promised to donate 200 iPads to the sheriff’s office, worth approximately $70,000.

However, the “deal” between Moyer and Sun fell through after the district attorney investigated the sheriff’s activities and received a search warrant to bring up documentation for August 2019, including those related to weapons permits. Now Sun and Jensen are accused of accepting and extorting bribes.

“Junior Sheriff Sun and Captain Jensen viewed the CCW licenses as commodities and found buyers for them,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Individuals who solicit bribes should be reported to the district attorney’s office, rather than encouraging their behavior by obeying their demands.”

Insurance broker Harpreet Chadha was also charged with bribery in this case. Investigators claim that last year, in exchange for a CCW license, he promised Junior Sheriff Sun $6,000 VIP tickets to a hockey game.

Prosecutors said the tickets were eventually used by relatives and some political supporters of Sheriff Laurie Smith when they celebrated her re-election to the post last year.

Thomas Moyer’s lawyer states that his client is “innocent of the charges against him.”

The same goes for Chadha.

“This case appears to be a serious mistake of justice, and Moyer and Chad accidentally fell into the crossfire of a political struggle between Smith and Rosen”, – said the lawyer of Harpreet Chadha.

According to the defence, Apple did consider the possibility of donating iPads to the police training centre, but this has nothing to do with licenses for concealed carrying weapons.

Let’s recall a couple more scandals with Apple: a year ago The OpenID Foundation stated that “Sign in with Apple” feature is not secure, and in August of this year ProtonMail developers say Apple is holding us all as hostages.