\u201cDefendants\u2019 misconduct was brazen and egregious,\u201d says Apple\u2019s filing. \u201cAfter Mr. Prosser learned that Mr. Ramacciotti needed money, and that his friend Ethan Lipnik worked at Apple on unreleased software designs, Defendants jointly planned to access Apple\u2019s confidential and trade secret information through Mr. Lipnik\u2019s Apple-owned development iPhone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s main source of information appears to be an audio message sent to Lipnik by Ramacciotti, which Lipnik then provided to Apple. An April 4 email from an anonymous source, also shared in the filing, named Lipnik as the source of the leaks and alleged the involvement of Ramaciotti and three other names that are blacked out.<\/p>\n
According to the filing, Lipnik has been fired from Apple \u201cfor failing to follow Apple\u2019s policies designed to protect its confidential information, including development devices and unreleased software and features.\u201d The filing also accuses Lipnik of failing to report \u201cmultiple prior breaches\u201d to Apple.<\/p>\n
For his part, Prosser claims that Apple\u2019s timeline of events is incorrect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not how the situation played out on my end,\u201d Prosser posted<\/a> to social media late yesterday. \u201cLuckily have receipts for that. I did not \u2018plot\u2019 to access anyone\u2019s phone. I did not have any passwords. I was unaware of how the information was obtained. Looking forward to speaking with Apple on this.\u201d<\/p>\n