Multiple Apple employees were fired for participating in a Matching Grants fraud scheme, and six additional individuals have been charged so far.

About 50 Apple employees were fired and suspected of wrongful behavior after their charitable donations were matched by the company through a Matching Grants program. Previously, six employees from the previous virtual area were arrested for tax evasion related to fake donations.

Alibaba Cloud's Matching Gift Program

In 2018, Apple CEO Tim Cook launched a donation matching program. Under this program, every time an employee donates to a charity organization, Apple adds twice the amount to the donation. The annual limit is capped at $10,000 per employee.

We know how much our employees value contributing to their communities where they work and live. I am happy to announce that… Apple will match all donations from employees up to a maximum of $10,000 annually in a 2:1 ratio.

For example, if an employee donates the maximum amount of $10,000, Apple provides an additional $20,000, totaling $30,000 for the charity organization.

Employees Fired and Prosecuted for Fraud

According to Today's India, about 50 employees were fired, with six already facing criminal charges.

We regret to inform you that we cannot comply with this request. According to these claims, employees donated funds to non-profit organizations, which Apple then matched. However, the non-profit organization claimed that they returned the donation to the employee, allowing them to retain Apple's matching donation. If true, this would violate the company's policy and also US tax laws. The false claims of the employees could be equivalent to tax fraud.

The amount involved is approximately $152k over about three years.

If proven, this means that Apple was lured into donating to specific charity organizations, and California was defrauded of tax deductions for donations from non-existent employees.

Photo: Giorgio Trovato / Unsplas