Former Apple employee admits to defrauding the company out of $17 million

A former Apple employee has pled guilty to defrauding the company out of over $17 million. Dhirendra Prasad, who spent most of his decade at Apple working as a buyer in the Global Service Supply Chain department, admitted to “taking kickbacks, inflatin…

YouTube Music contractors vote to unionize

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Justice Department alleges Chinese spies tried to disrupt a criminal investigation into Huawei

Two spies from the People’s Republic of China attempted to interfere in a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice into a prominent Chinese telecommunications company, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Monday. The two agent…

A hacker who stole and sold Ed Sheeran songs for crypto gets prison time

Adrian Kwiatkowski, a hacker from Ipswich in England who stole two unreleased songs by Ed Sheeran, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, according to the BBC. Kwiatkowski sold Sheeran’s tracks, along with 12 other songs by American rapper Lil Uzi …

Apple Store workers in Oklahoma City vote to unionize

The Apple Store workers who’d been planning to unionize since at least early this year have come long way from using encrypted chats to organize in secret. In June, an Apple Store in Maryland became the first location to unionize in the US. Now, another retail location in Oklahoma City has voted in favor of unionization, becoming the second Apple Store in the US to organize officially. According to The Wall Street Journal, the group is calling itself the Penn Square Labor Alliance, because the store is located at Oklahoma City’s Penn Square Mall.

Around 100 employees are eligible for union membership in the store. Based on the information released by the National Labor Relations Board, 56 of those workers voted in favor of forming a union, while 32 voted against. The group is now planning to join the Communications Workers of America, which also represents workers from companies like AT&T and Verizon. Charity Lassiter, an employee at the Oklahoma City store and a member of the organizing committee, told The Journal: “Now that we’ve won the election, it is our hope that management will come to the table so that we may collectively work towards building a company that prioritizes workers over profit and encourages employees to thrive.”

Meanwhile, an Apple spokesperson told the publication in a statement: “We believe the open, direct and collaborative relationship we have with our valued team members is the best way to provide an excellent experience for our customers, and for our teams. We’re proud to provide our team members with strong compensation and exceptional benefits.”

Previous reports indicate that Apple has been finding ways to dissuade workers to unionize. Just a few days ago, Bloomberg reported that the tech giant is offering its employees new perks, such as additional health benefits and funding for educational opportunities. However, the tech giant will reportedly withhold those benefits from unionized members who’ll now have to negotiate for them. Back when talks about worker’s organizing efforts started heating up, the company reportedly armed its managers with anti-union talking points. Employees formally accused the tech giant of union busting, and the NLRB found merit in the claims that Apple surveilled staff, limited access to pro-union fliers and help captive audience meetings to deliver its anti-union messaging. A hearing is scheduled to take place in December before an NLRB judge unless all parties involved agree on a settlement. 

Nikola founder Trevor Milton convicted on three charges of fraud

Trevor Milton, the founder and former executive chairman of Nikola, has been found guilty on three counts of fraud for misleading the electric vehicle company’s investors about its business and technology.

In total, he was found guilty on one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. He was acquitted on one charge of securities fraud. His sentencing has been scheduled for January 27th. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Milton was indicted by a federal grand jury on the charges last year, with prosecutors citing numerous alleged lies, including many made on Twitter, in podcast interviews and other media appearances. Prosecutors alleged he had lied about “nearly all aspects of the business” in an effort to boost the stock of the EV maker.

The SEC began investigating the company in 2020, after Hindenburg Research publicly accused Nikola of staging an “elaborate ruse” to mislead the public about the status of its electric semi, Nikola One. While the company had published a video purporting to show the truck “cruising on a road at a high rate of speed,” Hindenburg said the truck had actually been “towed to the top of a hill on a remote stretch of road and simply filmed it rolling down the hill.” The company ultimately paid $125 million to settle civil charges with the SEC in 2021.

During the trial, Milton’s defense lawyer argued that the video was merely “special effects” and that “it’s certainly not a crime to use special effects.” But prosecutors raised several other false claims by Milton, who was extremely active on Twitter. According to The Times, prosecutors said Milton also lied about having “binding contracts with trucking companies” that in reality were cancelable reservations for vehicles. Prosecutors also cited Milton’s claims about making “green hydrogen” when the company had not yet produced any.

Apple is reportedly withholding new benefits from unionized retail workers

Apple is reportedly declining to offer new benefits to employees at its only unionized retail store. According to Bloomberg, the unionized workers at the store in Towson, Maryland, will need to negotiate for benefits with Apple as they hash out a collective bargaining agreement. The perks in question haven’t been announced publicly as yet, but they’re said to include additional health plan benefits in some jurisdictions, funds to take educational classes and a free Coursera membership.

The report suggests that by withholding benefits from the unionized workers, who have organized Apple may be dissuading workers at other retail stores from attempting to form a union. Workers at an Oklahoma City location are set to vote in a union election this week. Apple has faced labor tensions on other fronts, with some staff resisting a mandate to return to the company’s offices (a stance that Apple eventually backed down from). The company has also been accused of union busting.

Withholding perks from unionized workers or those who plan to organize is not exactly a new issue. Starbucks has provided some benefits to non-union cafes, and claimed it couldn’t offer them to unionized locations in one fell swoop. In April, Activision Blizzard said workers who were organizing at Raven Software (they’ve since voted to form a union) were ineligible for raises due to its legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board determined last month that the company withheld raises due to the workers’ union activity.

The workers at Apple’s Towson store will soon start formal union contract negotiations with Apple. Engadget has contacted the company for comment. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (I AM CORE) provided the following statement to Engadget:

“Despite the news from Apple today, our goal is still the same. We are urging Apple to negotiate in good faith so we can reach an agreement over the next few weeks. The IAM CORE negotiating committee is dedicated to securing a deal that gives our IAM CORE members the proper respect and dignity at work and sets the standard in the tech industry.”