Devine Wins Apple Fraud Bail Hearing

Paul Shin Devine, the mid-level manager at Apple charged with selling trade secrets to Asian parts suppliers, managed to convince a Judge on Wednesday to change his bail terms. He isn’t out on the street yet since his release is on hold until a US$440,00 lien against his mother’s house is posted with the court, according to Reuters.

Along with his mother’s house, Mr. Devine also had to sign over the equity in his own home, $612,407 from foreign bank accounts, and $50,000 of his brother’s money. $313,000 from a Korean bank account is also earmarked for the court, although it’s unclear how long it will take to get the funds out of the country and into the U.S.

Raphael Goldman, Mr. Devine’s lawyer, said “It appears that it will be very time-consuming, and difficult — if not impossible — to transfer these funds from Korea into the United States.”

Mr. Devine was charged with several counts of fraud for selling information to parts suppliers so they could negotiate better deals with Apple. He was accused of selling the information to companies in China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

The Judge ordered Mr. Devine to continue cooperating with authorities in the case and to help identify any foreign bank accounts he may still have. “If you feel he is not doing that, then you come back and we will talk about it,” the Judge told Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Kane.