How Dhirendra Prasad, An Ex-Apple Employee, Looted $17 Million From The Cupertino Tech Giant

Dhirendra Prasad, 52, worked as a buyer within Apple’s global supply chain department between December 2008 and December 2018. This man was responsible for buying parts and services for Apple from various vendors. As per reports, Dhirendra Prasad, in a written plea statement, admitted that he began defrauding Apple in 2011 along with two co-conspirators Robert Gary Hansen and Don M. Baker.

Dhirendra Prasad admitted to engaging in theft, taking kickbacks and inflating invoices. To cite an instance, according to CNET report, Prasad said, in 2013 he had shipped motherboards to Baker’s company, CTrends from Apple. Co-conspirator Baker then harvested the motherboards’ components and then shipped back to Apple, for which Prasad issued Apple billing invoices to purchase. After Apple paid the fraudulent invoices, the pair split the proceeds. The report also added Prasad admitting to engaging in tax fraud by funneling illicit payments from Robert Gary Hansen to Prasad’s creditors. A shell company that he arranged issues fake invoices to CTrends to conceal Baker’s illicit payments to Prasad, allowing Baker to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars of unjustified tax deductions and resulting in an IRS loss of more than $1.8 million. Prasad faces up to 20 years of prison sentence for the mail and wire frauds. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 14, 2023.