Foxconn Exec Charged For Stealing 5,700 iPhones, Facing 10 Years In Prison

A former manager at Foxconn, the company that manufactures Apple’s iPhone handsets, allegedly stole 5,700 iPhones and sold them for $1.5 million, according to AsiaOne. The Taiwanese manager faces 10 years in prison.

The Taiwanese testing department manager, identified by his family name Tsai, reportedly had eight employees smuggle out iPhone 5 and 5s devices, valued at over $1.5 million, between 2013 and 2014. The company first noticed the issue after an internal audit. Tsai was then arrested and bailed in 2016.

Tsai was charged with breach of trust and faces 10 years in prison according to prosecutors. Foxconn has been hit with a few scandals in recent years from employee misconduct to labor disputes, according to AsiaOne.

In fact, in 2014, five former Foxconn employees were charged with breach of trust in Taiwan for soliciting $160 million in kickbacks from suppliers in exchange for buying their equipment. They were sentenced up to 10 years and six months in prison by a district court last month.

Foxconn is one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, helping manufacture iPhones and other products for the Cupertino company. Foxconn has more than 1.3 million employees and has also been under the spotlight over labor unrest, employee suicides and the use of underage interns in recent years.