Court finds Apple’s top executive lied under oath in Epic Games case

A U.S. federal court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accused Apple’s vice president of finance Alex Roman of lying under oath in a high-profile legal battle with Epic Games. In her official ruling, the judge stated that Roman’s testimony was “full of misinformation and outright lies.”

Apple tried to hide a plan with a 27% commission outside the App Store

The key point was Roman’s claim that the decision to set a 27% commission on purchases outside the App Store was allegedly made only in January 2024. However, as the judge notes, Apple’s internal documents explicitly state that all of the key elements of the scheme, including the commission rate, were determined as early as July 2023.

“Neither Apple nor its attorneys have seen fit to correct this now obvious falsehood,”  the court’s ruling said.

Possible criminal charges and contempt charges

Judge Rogers announced that she is referring the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to consider the possibility of filing criminal contempt proceedings against Apple and Alex Roman personally. Moreover, in the final part of the document, she explicitly states:

“Apple consciously chose not to comply with the court’s orders. The purpose of doing so was to create new anticompetitive barriers in order to preserve a revenue stream previously found to be illegal. Apple made the mistake of assuming that the court would allow such audacity. As always, trying to cover things up has only made things worse. There will be no second chance.”

What was going on in Apple v. Epic Games?”

Remember, the court ordered Apple to allow developers to direct users to alternative payment methods outside of the App Store. Instead, Apple imposed an additional 27% fee on such purchases, a move that effectively retained monopoly control over the transactions and sparked a new wave of criticism.

An additional fee of 27% on such purchases, a move that effectively retained monopoly control over the transactions and drew a new wave of criticism.

The court has now officially ruled that Apple’s actions were consciously violating a court order, and the company could face even more serious consequences -up to and including criminal prosecution of individual employees.

The Court finds top Apple executive lied under oath in Epic Games case was first published on ITZine.ru.