Bribery charges against Apple's global security boss dismissed in iPads-for-gun-permits case
- Reference: 1622609889
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/02/apple_security_boss_bribery_dismissed/
- Source link:
The case was [1]brought in November 2020 , when prosecutors detailed how Apple’s Moyer had applied for concealed carry permits. Such permits are rare in California and the application process stretched across many months.
In February 2019, with the applications unresolved, Moyer met Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department officers Undersheriff Rick Sung and Captain James Jensen to discuss the permit applications and sent himself an email with the subject line “iPad Donation.”
[2]
[3]
[4]
Not long afterwards, Moyer formally offered to donate 200 iPads, worth around $70,000, to the Sheriff's Department. The permits he sought were granted shortly thereafter.
The offer of iPads, prosecutors alleged, was a bribe. And the bribe paid off with the long-awaited issuance of permits.
A grand jury liked that logic and Moyer was charged, along Sung and Jensen, and an insurance broker named Harpreet Chadha who allegedly offered the officers tickets to an ice hockey game in return for a concealed carry permit.
[5]
On Tuesday, however, California Superior Court Judge Eric S. Geffon [6]threw out the case against Moyer.
The Register understands Moyer produced paperwork showing that he had gone through Apple’s processes for arranging a donation, and that Judge Geffon could find no evidence that the donation was an attempt to hasten the issuance of permits. The judge also noted there was evidence that by the time of the iPads offer, Moyer believed the permits had been approved, which rather undermined the prosecution’s timeline.
[7]Refurb your enthusiasm: Apple is selling an 8-year-old desktop for over £5k
[8]Unfixable Apple M1 chip bug enables cross-process chatter, breaking OS security model
[9]Oi, idiot fanbois. DON'T buy this gun-shaped iPhone case, mmkay?
[10]Apple's iPad Pro on a stick, um, we mean M1 iMac scores 2 out of 10 for repairability
The officers and third party, however, still face charges.
Moyer will reportedly rejoin Apple after having stood down while the case played out. And there's now every chance that as he performs his duties protecting senior execs, he is carrying a concealed weapon. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/23/apple_global_security_head_charged/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YLdWu7IHaqnluc2r1QROtwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YLdWu7IHaqnluc2r1QROtwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YLdWu7IHaqnluc2r1QROtwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YLdWu7IHaqnluc2r1QROtwAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.reuters.com/technology/judge-dismisses-charges-against-apple-security-chief-gun-permit-probe-2021-06-01/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/28/apple_is_selling_an_8yearold/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/27/apple_m1_chip_bug/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2015/07/06/us_cops_warn_against_pistol_shaped_iphone_case/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/26/m1_imac/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Wow....
"Since when does feeling have anything to do with justice? I just listened to an interview of an attorney, who actually said that "unless you can be proven to be guilty you must not be convicted - even if you are guilty, and everybody is sure of that, including the judge". Nor should a feeling of "well, the transaction is there and took place, but I'm sure that it was in no way linked to the gun permit" make the judge sway."
Actually since most of time. Intent is one of the most important parts of many criminal cases.
In your examples, the core is that they're opposite situations. That there is a tiny chance that they wasn't linked should ALWAYS make the judge sway.
It's a PITA in many cases, as in this (I'm pretty effing sure that it was bribery), but it's the only way to have fair trials.
Re: Wow....
@AC you said it just Wow.
“Apple’s processes for arranging a donation”.
Why does it matter how he got them?
“the Judge also felt that by the time of the offer Moyer understood the permits had been approved”.
More like “Moyer understood the permits had been approved and he would receive them once donation was formally offered.”. It is not what Moyer understood it is when he received the permits before or after the donation was formally offered? I bet it was after.
So if it wasn't a bribe how often does Moyer make these donations or was that the first?
What’s the betting the case against Harpreet Chadha will not get his thrown out. Even though the tickets were used by “Sheriff Laurie Smith’s relatives and some of her biggest political supporters to celebrate her re-election as sheriff”. Sheriff Laurie Smith is not one of the accused. Also were the tickets used before or after Harpreet Chadha got his permit?
No Harpreet Chadha will not be so lucky as without him there is no case against the two cops. How can they have received bribes if you have not got anyone who has given them a bribe?
Say it with poetry
The sorest ill that Heaven hath
Sent on this lower world in wrath,--
The plague (to call it by its name,)
One single day of which
Would Pluto's ferryman enrich,--
Waged war on beasts, both wild and tame.
They died not all, but all were sick:
No hunting now, by force or trick,
To save what might so soon expire.
No food excited their desire;
Nor wolf nor fox now watch'd to slay
The innocent and tender prey.
The turtles fled;
So love and therefore joy were dead.
The lion council held, and said:
'My friends, I do believe
This awful scourge, for which we grieve,
Is for our sins a punishment
Most righteously by Heaven sent.
Let us our guiltiest beast resign,
A sacrifice to wrath divine.
Perhaps this offering, truly small,
May gain the life and health of all.
By history we find it noted
That lives have been just so devoted.
Then let us all turn eyes within,
And ferret out the hidden sin.
Himself let no one spare nor flatter,
But make clean conscience in the matter.
For me, my appetite has play'd the glutton
Too much and often upon mutton.
What harm had e'er my victims done?
I answer, truly, None.
Perhaps, sometimes, by hunger press'd,
I've eat the shepherd with the rest.
I yield myself, if need there be;
And yet I think, in equity,
Each should confess his sins with me;
For laws of right and justice cry,
The guiltiest alone should die.'
'Sire,' said the fox, 'your majesty
Is humbler than a king should be,
And over-squeamish in the case.
What! eating stupid sheep a crime?
No, never, sire, at any time.
It rather was an act of grace,
A mark of honour to their race.
And as to shepherds, one may swear,
The fate your majesty describes,
Is recompense less full than fair
For such usurpers o'er our tribes.'
Thus Renard glibly spoke,
And loud applause from flatterers broke.
Of neither tiger, boar, nor bear,
Did any keen inquirer dare
To ask for crimes of high degree;
The fighters, biters, scratchers, all
From every mortal sin were free;
The very dogs, both great and small,
Were saints, as far as dogs could be.
The ass, confessing in his turn,
Thus spoke in tones of deep concern:--
'I happen'd through a mead to pass;
The monks, its owners, were at mass;
Keen hunger, leisure, tender grass,
And add to these the devil too,
All tempted me the deed to do.
I browsed the bigness of my tongue;
Since truth must out, I own it wrong.'
On this, a hue and cry arose,
As if the beasts were all his foes:
A wolf, haranguing lawyer-wise,
Denounced the ass for sacrifice--
The bald-pate, scabby, ragged lout,
By whom the plague had come, no doubt.
His fault was judged a hanging crime.
'What? eat another's grass? O shame!
The noose of rope and death sublime,'
For that offence, were all too tame!
And soon poor Grizzle felt the same.
Thus human courts acquit the strong,
And doom the weak, as therefore wrong.
Dirty Harry
"And there's now every chance that as he performs his duties protecting senior execs, he is carrying a concealed weapon."
I know what you're thinking. Is that an iPad in his pocket or a gun? You've got to ask yourself a question: Is he going to blow my head off or take a flattering photo with the iPad? Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Wow....
... I just had to do a refresher course about this subject (I'm pretty sure I would have faced disciplinary action, which is _not_ a civil court case, I can indeed be punished twice), let's just pick this paragraph apart (though I am not a lawyer, live on a different continent etc...):
The Register understands Moyer produced paperwork showing that he had gone through Apple’s processes for arranging a donation,
Which does not make it better, as those involved in approving this are now (maybe) complicit in any unlawful action. Even if I make a case to the relevant group in my company that I want to donate whatever my company is providing to the police or the city or whomever, if this action can indeed be linked to me seeking a gun permit, a building permit, rerouting of a pedestrian path past my private beach (or whatever) it is bribery, quite plain.
and that Judge Geffon could find no evidence that the donation was an attempt to hasten the issuance of permits.
It is a transaction that was organised between a civil servant (the police officer in question) and a person seeking a certain outcome. Does not look good for the civil servant involved. Even if it is a donation to the police unit not to the person directly (this was actually stressed in our training). If it was me, I am quite confident I would face disciplinary action (rightly so), and I believe that this would count as at least attempted bribery over here, which is indeed punishable by law (also in the US).
The Judge also felt [emphasis mine] that by the time of the offer Moyer understood the permits had been approved, which rather undermined the prosecution’s timeline.
Since when does feeling have anything to do with justice? I just listened to an interview of an attorney, who actually said that "unless you can be proven to be guilty you must not be convicted - even if you are guilty, and everybody is sure of that, including the judge". Nor should a feeling of "well, the transaction is there and took place, but I'm sure that it was in no way linked to the gun permit" make the judge sway.
Yes, I wrote "must not be convicted unless proven guilty" above, and the judge "felt" that there was not enough proof, so maybe the judical process worked out correctly.
"Mood is something for cattle and loveplay"