Apple Manager Pleads Not Guilty As Suppliers Respond To Kickback Probe

Devine was indicted on 23 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and accepting kickbacks by a federal grand jury on Aug. 11 and has also been named in a civil suit filed by Apple in U.S. District Court in San Jose.

According to the claims against him, Devine received hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickback payments from six different Asian suppliers in return for information that could help suppliers negotiate favorable contracts with Apple.

A Singapore citizen, Andrew Ang, has also been indicted in the case.

The companies paid the kickbacks to Devine through a California-based entity called CPK Engineering, according to the indictment. Three out of the six named companies have thus far responded to the allegations publicly.

Pegatron Corp., the parent company of Kaedar Electronics, which was one of the six companies named in the U.S. grand jury indictment of Devine, on Monday admitted to paying a "brokerage commission" to an intermediate company related to business it did with Apple. According to reports, Pegatron couldn't confirm whether Devine was connected to that intermediary, however, and is investigating the case.

Elsewhere, another company, Singapore-based JLJ Holdings, told Reuters it was looking into the indictment. JLJ is the parent of Jin Li Mould Manufacturing, one of the named companies, and it confirmed that Ang was a former Jin Li employee who left the company in May 2009.

An anonymous source from a third company named in the indictment, South Korea-based Cresyn, told Reuters Tuesday that Devine had approached the company but that it had not given Devine any improper commissions.

Any fee provided Devine, that source said, was a "small consulting fee" for "general information about U.S. markets."

The other suppliers named by Apple are Singapore-based Fastening Technologies, Singapore-based Glocom/Lateral Solutions and Taiwan-based Nishoku Technology.

The next step for Devine is a hearing to determine bail, currently set for Wednesday.