Investigators discovered that the cellphones were bound for Mr. Zhou’s mailing address and that they were part of an importing operation that also included Mr. Jiang, Mr. Zhou’s neighbor in Corvallis, Ore., about 85 miles south of Portland. Records provided to investigators by Apple allowed them to connect Mr. Jiang to 3,069 iPhone warranty claims through his name and his email, mailing and IP addresses. Mr. Jiang told investigators in an interview he had submitted some 2,000 phones in 2017. He also said that he employed friends and relatives in the United States to help swap out the phones. Prosecutors said that from 2013 to 2015 the companies wired more than $100 million to the man and his associates.

Source: New York Times April 06, 2019 21:11 UTC