Former Apple manager Paul Shim Devine jailed for selling iPod and iPhone secrets

Former Apple manager Paul Shim Devine has been jailed for a year after receiving $1m in kickbacks from selling secret information about the iPod to suppliers and manufacturers.

Devine was arrested in 2010 after he was accused of accepting under the table payments from six Asian suppliers of iPhone and iPod accessories.

The former global supply manager was sentenced to one year in prison at a San Jose court last week, almost three years after pleading guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in 2011.

Devine passed confidential information to Apple's suppliers and manufacturers who used the secrets to negotiate more favorable deals with the technology giant.

The companies were not named in the court indictment, but they were described as suppliers of materials for iPhone and iPod products. They were located in Asian countries including China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

Devine masked the kickbacks using a web of US and foreign bank accounts and a shell company, as a front to receive the payments through.

Apple had sued Devine for $1m and he had already forfeited $2.3 million in gains.