Around fifty Apple employees have been fired for allegedly defrauding the company via its Matching Grants program, in which the company agrees to match charitable donations made by employees.
So far, six of the former Bay Area employees have also been charged with tax fraud relating to fake donations …
Apple’s Matching Grants program
Apple CEO Tim Cook launched a charitable donation matching program back in 2018. The deal is that for every dollar donated to a charity by an employee, Apple will match it with two dollars. The annual limit was capped at $10,000 per employee.
We also know how much our employees value giving back to the communities where we all work and live. I’m happy to announce that starting immediately […] Apple will match all employee charitable donations, up to $10,000 annually, at a rate of two to one.
For example, if an employee donates the maximum of $10k, Apple will provide an additional $20k, giving the charity $30k in total.
Employees fired and charged with fraud
India Today reports that around 50 employees have been fired, and six of them have so far been charged with criminal offenses.
The allegations suggest that some employees, in collaboration with specific nonprofit organisations — including associations reportedly linked to the Indian community — falsified donations to exploit the program.
According to these claims, employees donated funds to nonprofits, which were then matched by Apple. However, the nonprofits allegedly funnelled the original donations back to the employees, allowing them to retain Apple’s matching contributions. If accurate, this would not only breach corporate policies but also violate US tax laws, as the employees’ false claims could amount to tax fraud.
The charges relate to approximately $152k over a period of three years.
If the allegations are proven, it will mean that Apple was tricked into making charitable donations to specific charities, while the state of California was defrauded by tax write-offs for non-existent employee donations.
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