iPhone Savior: Apple Manager Arrested For Selling iSecrets

A mid-level Apple manager was arrested on Friday and accused of accepting more than $1 million in kickbacks from half a dozen unscrupulous Asian suppliers of iPhone and iPod accessories.

Paul Shin Devine, 37, of Sunnyvale, California, is being detained by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Devine, a senior operations manager for Apple, along with Andrew Ang, of Singapore, were both fingered in a 23-count federal grand jury indictment which includes kickbacks, money laundering and wire fraud.

"The indictment describes a scheme in which Devine used his position at Apple to obtain confidential information, which he transmitted to Apple suppliers, including Ang. In return, the suppliers and manufacturers paid Devine kickbacks, which he shared with Ang." Source - San Jose Mercury News

Although the throng of Asian companies were not named in the indictment, they were described as suppliers of materials specifically designed for Apple's iPhone and iPod products. The indictment indicated that the companies are located throughout China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

In a separate civil suit, Apple claimed that Devine accepted more than $1 million in "payments, kickbacks and bribes" over several years. Which makes the infamous iPhone 4 kidnapper Brian J. Hogan, look like a saint by comparison. Hogan held a "found" iPhone 4 prototype for ransom back in April, eventually selling the device to Gizmodo.com for an estimated $5,000 in cash rather then returning it to Apple.

It appears the iPhone has unleashed an unsavory new class of high-tech iCriminals seeking to profit from Apple's wildly popular handheld devices any way possible. We may be witnessing only a small fraction of lucrative iCrimes being perpetrated in the shadows.

Devine, who joined Apple's iPod division in 2005, is expected to appear in U.S. Northern District Court in San Jose on Monday at 1:30 p.m.