An appeals court overturned a prior judgment against Apple's Chief Security Officer Thomas Moyer for bribing authorities for firearms permits.
In a case from 2020, Moyer was suspected of trying to provide 200 iPads to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office in return for licenses to carry concealed weapons (CCW). According to Apple Insider, a Santa Clara District Attorney's Office inquiry found two sheriff's deputies held off on granting CCW permits unless Thomas Moyer and a nearby insurance salesman, Harpreet Chadha, gave something of value.
As part of this agreement, Apple workers reportedly had four handgun licenses withheld by Undersheriff Rick Sung and Captain James Jensen. In 2019, Sung and Moyer discovered that the District Attorney had used a search order to obtain CCW documents, so they scraped their original plan of giving iPad gifts that were estimated to be worth $50,000 to $80,000, according to a Bloomberg report.
Judge Eric Geffon of the Santa Clara County Superior Court dropped the lawsuit against the Apple security chief in June 2021 due to inadequate evidence. Judge Geffon was persuaded by Moyer's claim that a prosecutor had given the grand jury the wrong instructions.
Moyer's Camp Asserts His Innocence
Due to allegations that the prosecution misled the grand jury regarding the statute, Moyer's legal team successfully had the county superior court judge dismiss the bribery case. However, an appeals court in San Jose reversed this verdict when the district attorney appealed.
Apple noted that it had investigated accusations against Thomas Moyer internally and found no misconduct.
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Jeff Rosen, the district attorney for Santa Clara, expressed his satisfaction with the appeals court's ruling and said that Moyer is "right back where he should be - on the trial calendar and charged with bribery."
Partner at Swanson & McNamara LLP, Britt Evangelist, who is defending the Apple executive, released a statement disagreeing with the appeals court's ruling and asserting Moyer's innocence. "Moyer did not commit a crime, and we will continue fighting this case until he is exonerated," the lawyer stated, according to The Mercury News.
A Part of a Grave Scandal
The allegations against Thomas Moyer are part of former Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith's controversy. Smith and her administration were accused of using weapons permits to get political favors and other things. The judicial system is now dealing with several indictments relating to the scandal, including former undersheriffs, senior commanders, advisers, and suspected co-conspirators.
Smith was accused of corruption by a civil grand jury and a later civil trial jury despite never having been indicted criminally. The decision in the civil lawsuit coincided with her retirement, symbolically removing her from office. The defendants have not yet gone to trial. However, some unlawful permit receivers and middlemen have cooperated with law enforcement in exchange for leniency in charges and punishment.
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