Chinese National Jailed, Ordered To Pay Back $987,000 For IPhone Fraud - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2022) A Chinese national has been sentenced to two years in jail and ordered to pay back almost $1 million to the computer giant Apple for his part in a fraud conspiracy against the company, the Justice Department announced in a press release on Tuesday.

"Haiteng Wu, 32, of the People's Republic of China, was sentenced today to serve 26 months in prison for participating in a three-year conspiracy to defraud Apple Inc. out of more than $1 million," the Justice Department said.

Wu pleaded guilty in May 2020, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Wu has already served his 26 months in custody and he was also ordered Wu to pay $987,000 in restitution and an identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment, the department said.

"Judge (Emmet) Sullivan previously ordered Wu to forfeit his interests in two condominium units, one in McLean, Virginia, the other in Arlington, Virginia. Wu purchased the Arlington condominium for cash during the conspiracy," the release said.

Wu and other conspirators received shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong containing spoofed IMEI numbers and serial numbers that corresponded with authentic in-warranty iPhones. The conspirators then returned the inauthentic phones to Apple, claiming that the phones were legitimate in an effort to receive authentic replacement iPhones, the department said.