Apple security chief maintains innocence after bribery charges

A grand jury in California’s Santa Clara County has indicted Thomas Moyer, Apple’s head of global security, for bribery. Moyer is accused of offering 200 iPads to the Santa County Sheriff’s office in exchange for concealed carry permits for four Apple employees.

Moyer’s attorney says that he did nothing wrong, and notably Apple is standing behind its executive.

“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.”

Also indicted were two officials in the office of Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith. These officials are accused of soliciting the alleged bribe.

California law gives sheriffs broad discretion to decide who gets permits to carry concealed weapons in the state. Smith has previously faced accusations that her office deliberately withheld permits to carry concealed weapons until applicants did favors for Smith. A June investigation by NBC Bay Area found that donors to Smith’s re-election campaign were 14 times more likely to get concealed carry permits than those who didn’t donate.

A press release from Smith’s office described the indictments as “a difficult time for our organization.”

Jeff Rosen, the Santa Clara district attorney responsible for the indictments, said that the donation of 200 iPads was scuttled at the last minute after Rosen obtained a search warrant in the case.

According to LinkedIn, Moyer is responsible for “strategic management of Apple’s corporate and retail security, crisis management, executive protection, investigations and new product secrecy.”

While two individuals in Sheriff Smith’s office were indicted, no charges have been filed against Smith herself. Rosen says the investigation is ongoing. A common prosecutorial strategy is to focus on lower-ranking employees first in order to pressure them to provide evidence against their boss.

Others also face bribery charges

The same day he indicted Moyer, Rosen also indicted an insurance broker, Harpreet Chadha, who also sought a concealed carry permit from the Santa Clara Sheriff’s office. Chadha is accused of furnishing Smith with tickets worth $6,000 to a luxury box suite at a San Jose Sharks game.

“Sheriff Laurie Smith’s family members and some of her biggest supporters held a celebration of her reelection as sheriff in Chadha’s suite,” Rosen said.

Chadha’s attorney described the indictment as a “grave miscarriage of justice.”

In August, Rosen charged four people in another bribery scheme involving the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office. The alleged scheme involved a trade of campaign donations for concealed carry permits. One of the defendants, James Jensen, was a sheriff’s captain who was also charged in last week’s indictment of Apple’s Moyer.

The August indictment focused on an effort to obtain concealed carry permits for a company that was providing security to Facebook executives.

“I need you to meet my buddy that runs the Facebook Executive protection team,” one of the defendants wrote to an attorney charged in the case. “It’s a potential $50K.”

The conspirators then allegedly met at a San Jose Jamba Juice and allegedly reached a deal where the sheriff’s office would supply 10 to 12 concealed carry permits in exchange for campaign contributions worth $90,000.

All of the defendants could serve prison time if they are convicted.