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Apple investigated security chief over concealed carry weapons permit bribery charge, found no wrongdoing

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


https://macdailynews.com/2020/11/25/apple-investigated-security-chief-over-concealed-carry-weapons-permit-bribery-charge-found-no-wrongdoing/

Timothy B. Lee for Ars Technica:

Apple’s head of security indicted in concealed carry caseMoyer’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…

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.

MacDailyNews Take: Again, wherever the laws stipulate that “permits” are required, the potential for corruption by the permit issuers is increased. When the issuer is “the government,” it creates an impedance to reporting abusers for fear of retaliation. To whom do you report attempted bribery when it’s the police doing the extorting and you have no idea how far the corruption goes with “the government?”

If Sung et al. are found guilty of holding back issuing concealed weapons permits in order to extort goods, services, etc., they should be charged with the maximum penalties possible, but Moyer and others, who were simply trying to achieve California “permits” just to be able to perform their jobs are largely the victims here, not the criminals.

According to a November 24th Washington Post report, “Through his attorney, Ed Swanson, Moyer denied the allegations and said there was no quid pro quo. Moyer helped arrange a donation of iPads to a new education center for the sheriff’s office, Swanson said, but that donation was not connected with four concealed-carry permits issued to Apple employees. “He did nothing wrong and has acted with the highest integrity throughout his career. We have no doubt he will be acquitted at trial,” Swanson said in a statement.”