Apple security chief indicted for alleged bribery

Thomas Moyer offered 200 free iPads to officers in exchange for special gun permits for Apple employees

Thomas Moyer, Apple's head of global security, and two members of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's office have been indicted for their role in an alleged bribery scheme, allegedly offering 200 free iPads to law enforcement officers in exchange for special gun permits for Apple employees.

A grand jury issued a pair of indictments [pdf] last week, accusing Moyer, Undersheriff Rick Sung and Capt. James Jensen - as well local business owner Harpreet Chadha - of exchanging bribes for concealed carry weapons (CCW) permits.

According to prosecutors, Sung and Jensen deliberately delayed releasing four CCW licences to Apple employees until Moyer agreed to offer 200 iPads, worth $70,000, to the Sheriff's Office.

The deal, however, was cancelled at the last minute after Sung and Moyer learnt that Santa Clara district attorney Jeff Rosen had ordered an investigation into the Sheriffs' operations. A search warrant was also issued to obtain the office's CCW records in August 2019.

"The donation was pulled back at the 11th hour when our search warrants into this probe began," Rosen said in a press conference on Monday.

He accused Sung and Jensen of treating CCW licenses as commodities and trying to find buyers for weapons licenses.

Insurance broker Harpreet Chadha was indicted in a separate bribery case, in which he is alleged to have offered $6,000 in box suite tickets for a San Jose luxury sport, on Valentine's Day last year, in exchange for weapons permits.

Prosecutors said that some relatives and supporters of Sheriff Laurie Smith used the suite to celebrate her re-election as sheriff.

Smith has not been charged with any crimes.

Rosen said that Moyer and Chadha should not have accepted the bribe demands from Sung and Jensen, and should have reported the case to the district attorney's office.

Ed Swanson, Moyer's attorney, said that Moyer was "innocent of the charges filed against him".

"He did nothing wrong and has acted with the highest integrity throughout his career. We have no doubt that he will be acquitted at trial."

Guy Jinkerton, who represents Chadha, described the indictment as "a grave miscarriage of justice."

An Apple spokesperson told CNN that the company conducted a detailed internal investigation after learning of the allegations and found no wrongdoing.

"We expect all of our employees to conduct themselves with integrity," the spokesperson said.

The Santa Clara county sheriff's office said that their goal in this difficult time 'remains to provide the highest level of public safety to the residents of Santa Clara County'.

The accused will be arraigned on 11th January 2021 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. If found guilty, they could receive prison time.