The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged six former Apple employees with defrauding the company out of approximately $152,000 (around Rs 1.28 crore) through an elaborate scheme exploiting Apple’s employee gift-matching program. The accused individuals are Siu Kei (Alex) Kwan, 37, Yathei (Hayson) Yuen, 34, Yat C (Sunny) Ng, 35, Wentao (Victor) Li, 38, Lichao Ni, 39, and Zheng Chang, 31.
Between July 2018 and April 2021, the group manipulated donations through Benevity, a third-party platform used by Apple for matching employee charitable contributions. They falsely claimed to donate to children’s charities but kept the matching funds from Apple, defrauding both the company and California’s tax system. Kwan, a CPA and former CEO of Hop4Kids, played a central role, using his connections to facilitate the scam and even providing fake tax returns for others involved.
The group faces multiple felony charges, including grand theft, conspiracy, perjury, and tax fraud.
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