Apple Security Chief, Two Officers Charged in Bribery Scheme
An indictment released by the Superior Court of California County of Santa Clara charges Apple’s head of global security, Thomas Moyer, and two sheriff’s officers, County Undersheriff Rick Sung and Sheriff’s Captain James Jenson, with bribery.
The charges allege that Moyer would provide a donation of 200 iPads to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office in exchange for four concealed carry permits to Apple’s security team. The officers are being charged with soliciting the bribes.
Apple's security chief accused of bribery in California gun-permit probe https://t.co/s3TGrqjJo9 pic.twitter.com/qAYyYqrWhg
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 24, 2020
In a Reuters report, Moyer’s attorney, Ed Swanson, denied any wrongdoing: “They went through the process the way you’re supposed to do it,” adding that the iPad donation was unconnected to the permits. “There was no bribe, no quid pro quo.”
The scheme was never consummated when Sung and Jensen scuttled it after learning that a warrant had been issued to seize the office’s concealed weapon license records.
In a BBC report, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen was highly critical of the alleged actions of the Sheriff’s Department personnel: “Call this quid pro quo. Call it pay-to-play. Call it give to get. It is illegal and deeply erodes public confidence in the criminal justice system. When high-ranking members of a law enforcement agency are at the heart of a bribery scheme, it tarnishes the badge, the honor, the reputations and—tragically—the effectiveness of all law enforcement agencies.”
