A grand jury has indicted Apple’s global head of security on charges of bribery related to an alleged exchange of hardware for gun permits, according to a statement by Santa Clara prosecutors on Monday.
The indicted, which was handed down on Friday, charges 50-year-old Thomas Moyer with accepting an offer from leadership within the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office for thousands of dollars worth of iPads in exchange for concealed carry weapons permits for the computer giant’s security officers.
The charges stem from a two-year-old probe into the sheriff’s department by the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office in which prosecutors allege top officials within the law enforcement agency improperly withheld concealed carry weapons permits unless they received something of value.
In Apple’s case, prosecutors say four permits that were requested by Moyer were denied until he agreed to donate 200 iPads with a street value of $70,000.
The iPads were never ultimately donated, prosecutors say, because Apple eventually learned about a search warrant that was executed on the sheriff’s office related to the bribery scandal.
A grand jury empaneled to explore the bribery allegations interviewed 10 key Apple employees, according to a list obtained and reviewed by The Desk on Monday. Those employees include:
- Security Specialist William Burns, III;
- Manager of Employee Giving Dyanne Compton;
- Government Liaison Michael Foulkes;
- Senior Director of Security Operations Eric Mueller;
- Senior Finance Manager Michael Jaynes;
- Health executive Raj Singh;
- Director of Global Security David Gullo;
- Manager of Political Compliance Genevieve Wyman;
- Global Finance Controller Char Shukla; and
- Global Security Officer Scott Vermeer.
On Monday, Apple released a statement saying it was aware of the allegations against security officials
“After learning of the allegations, we conducted a thorough internal investigation and found no wrongdoing,” the statement said.
Ed Swanson, a Bay Area criminal defense attorney, said Moyer was “collateral damage” in an ongoing feud between county prosecutors and law enforcement.
“Tom Moyer is innocent of the charges against him,” the attorney said in a statement obtained by the San Jose Mercury News on Monday. “We look forward to making Tom’s innocence clear in court and bringing an end to this wrong-headed prosecution.”
If convicted, Moyer could face prison time, the district attorney’s office said. He is scheduled to face a judge for arraignment in early January.
