Aug 14, 2010 13:20 GMT  ·  By

Selling company secrets is bad enough. Doing it while working at Apple is even worse, with the company having “zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company," according to a spokesman.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that a a mid-level Apple manager was arrested this Friday after being charged with selling company secrets to more than half a dozen Asian hardware suppliers.

According to the report, Paul Shin Devine, 37, of Sunnyvale, Calif., a global supply manager for Apple, and Andrew Ang, of Singapore, were named in a 23-count federal grand jury indictment for wire fraud, money laundering and kickbacks.

Apple, in a separate civil suit, claimed Devine accepted more than $1 million in "payments, kickbacks and bribes" over several years.

"Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told the paper. "We have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company."

Devine reportedly used his position at Apple to leak confidential information about future products.

The supply manager reportedly transmitted the information to Asian suppliers and manufacturers of iPhone and iPod accessories.

The vendors had been enabled to negotiate favorable contracts, thanks to the information provided by Devine.

The parties profiting off these leaks paid Devine kickbacks, which he reportedly shared with Ang.

The duo reportedly employed a scheme that used a chain of U.S. and foreign bank accounts, as well as one front company to receive payments.

In order to keep Apple co-workers unsuspicious, code words like "sample" were used to refer to the payments, the indictment says.

Although the Asian suppliers were not named, the indictment says they are companies in China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

According to the MercuryNews, IRS Agent Arlette Lee declined to comment on Ang's whereabouts, while Devine is being held by the U.S. Marshals Service, being scheduled to appear Monday at 1:30 p.m. PST in U.S. Northern District Court in San Jose.