Former Foxconn Employees Charged with Accepting Bribes from Supply Chain Partners

Several former Foxconn employees have been charged in Taiwan for allegedly accepting kickbacks from partner companies in Foxconn's supply chain, reports The Wall Street Journal. According to the report, a former general manager is being held on bribery charges and three former employees are released on bail. However, Apple and other Foxconn clients are not being investigated as authorities do not believe those companies were involved in the kickback scheme.

foxconn-iphone_production
The bribery allegations were made public last year when an internal Foxconn audit revealed several employees were accepting kickbacks from supply chain companies. Foxconn then acknowledged the criminal activity and turned the employee(s) over to the Chinese police for investigation.

"We can also confirm that our internal investigation found these violations to be limited to the procurement of consumables and accessory equipment related to a small part of our business," Foxconn said in a statement. "The employees in question are no longer with our company."

The charges come as Foxconn has been under fire multiple times in recent years for labor violations. The company has also been working with Apple to improve conditions for employees in its city-like factories, but it has been a slow process. After agreeing in 2012 to examine worker pay and limit working hours, a recent Fair Labor Association report shows the company now is meeting the FLA's 60-hour work week, but still exceeds China's legal limit for weekly working hours and overtime.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
144 months ago
After reading the article, I still have no idea what the workers were bribed to do.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
144 months ago
Welcome to China. This is a very common practice and isn't viewed as unethical by a lot of business people there. I wonder if this is being done for the optics.
I think companies will see it as unethical if their employees steal from them.

After reading the article, I still have no idea what the workers were bribed to do.
Management, not workers. "Accepting kickbacks from partner companies in the supply chain". Couldn't be clearer than that. Foxconn needs a million dollar worth of parts. Some person at Foxconn gets the task of finding the best supplier and get the parts. But the contract doesn't go to the best supplier, but to the supplier who pays the largest amount of cash to that person. Which means Foxconn doesn't get the best supplier, and pays more (because the kickback will obviously be added to the price of the order). That's stealing from your employer, which gets you fired and prosecuted when you get found out.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Consultant Avatar
144 months ago
You're viewing this from a Western ethical lens. Accepting remuneration in exchange for directing contracts in a certain direction is extremely common in China. Yes, the Chinese government is being increasingly pressured to crack down on this practice, and Western companies doing business there are having a lot of influence on that, but it kind if is what it is.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the crackdown. I've done business in China and been personally burned by this practice.

Yup. It's part of certain cultures.

In the U.S, it's done a different way. For example, it's part of the culture in Washington D.C., where lobbyists (often retired govt. staff) get paid big bucks to talk to friends / former colleagues.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
144 months ago
I'm sure it's much more then just a couple of people involved in this.

Of course you are sure. You have not the slightest clue what is happening, but you are sure. These guys were stealing from their employer (Foxconn). If they received $10,000 from a supplier, then Foxconn could have got the same supplies for $10,000 less. Probably for $20,000 less. What you are doing is the same as hearing that two people were injured in a car accident, and saying you are sure there must be a lot more injured.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chimes Avatar
144 months ago
Business as usual

Welcome to China. This is a very common practice and isn't viewed as unethical by a lot of business people there. I wonder if this is being done for the optics.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TWSS37 Avatar
144 months ago
They put the con in Foxconn
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)