Apple’s Chief Security Officer, Thomas Moyer, and several other individuals were indicted by a Santa Clara County grand jury earlier this week, on two counts of bribery to obtain concealed weapon permits.
According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, Moyer and insurance broker Harpreet Chadha are accused of offering bribes to Santa Clara Undersheriff Rick Sung and Captain James Jensen to receive concealed firearm (CCW) permits.
The indictments are the result of a two-year investigation by the DA’s office that found that Undersheriff Sing held off issuing CCW permits until he received “something of value.”
Undersheriff Sung and Captain Jensen reportedly withheld four separate firearms permits from Apple employees until Moyer promised that Apple would donate 200 iPads, worth about $70,000, to the Sheriff’s Office. The deal was scrapped at the last minute when Sung and Moyer learned that the District Attorney executed a search warrant seizing CCW records from the sheriff’s office.
Facebook has also been linked to the scheme, as officials at AS Solution – the company that provides executive protection for Facebook – have pleaded guilty.
So far, Apple is standing by Moyer and in a statement to Ars Technica it says that it has investigated the situation and “found no wrongdoing.”
“We expect all of our employees to conduct themselves with integrity,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “After learning of the allegations, we conducted a thorough internal investigation and found no wrongdoing.”
The four defendants will be arraigned on Jan. 11, 2021. If they are convicted, they could serve prison time.
