Former Apple Global Supply Manager Paul Devine receives one year in prison, $4.5 million fine in insider information case

The lesson learned is not to mess with Apple’s legal department and don’t sell inside information about upcoming Apple products.

Per MacRumors and the Associated Press, former Apple Global Supply Manager Paul Devine will face a year in prison and a hefty US$4.5 million fine for leaking secrets of the company to various accessory manufacturers in exchange for kickbacks.

The sentencing comes over three years after Devine pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy in relation to the leaking of Apple secrets. At the time, Devine faced a possible twenty-year sentencing over the fraud and money laundering counts.

Devine was Apple’s Global Supply Manager for five years, from 2005 through his arrest in August of 2010. The specifics of why Devine received a far shorter sentence than the possible twenty years he originally faced and the basis of the US$4.5 million fine are unclear, as Devine’s kickback amount was previously estimated at roughly US$1 million.

One of the confirmed companies Devine received kickbacks from was Kaedar Electronics, which was a subsidiary of long-time Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron. Kaedar supplied Apple with iPod packing boxes starting in 2005, and admitted to paying kickbacks to an intermediary company between 2005 and 2008 in exchange for confidential Apple information that assisted certain contract negotiations with the company.

Not the cleverest thing that could be done.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.