A global supply manager for Apple, Paul Shin Devine of Sunnyvale, California, is being charged with leaking information about upcoming Apple products to suppliers in Asia for his personal financial gain, and he is also facing a civil suit from Apple.
Devine is said to have used his security clearance at Apple to provide particular suppliers with information on prototypes currently in development. The indictment says that the suppliers negotiated contracts with Apple based on the information leaked to them. The suppliers were not named in the indictment.
The FBI and IRS put the case together. Devine is being held by the U.S. Marshals Service and will be in a San Jose, California federal court on Monday.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling had this to say:
Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business, we have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company.
The real question at hand is whether or not this will have any impact on the hype and rumors that surround Apple prototypes. Although we try not to report on every available rumor (as that would be a significant task for a small blog like MI), there are a number of rumors that prove to be true. Given Apple’s extreme level of secrecy, this comes as no surprise that someone with this type of clearance had been leaking product information before a product’s official release.
However, many speculate that Apple does provide controlled leaks to news media to help build hype prior to a significant product release.
