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Former AT&T exec admits to leaking iPhone info to investors

Not the first time Apple leaks have come up in this inside trading case.

A former AT&T executive has now admitted to leaking inside information about Apple and the iPhone as part of an investigation into an inside trading case. As noted by Reuters, 57-year-old Alnoor Ebrahim has now testified that he leaked AT&T's sales data about the iPhone—as well as sales data related to Blackberry products from RIM and other handsets—to people who then made investments based on that information.

Ebrahim entered a plea agreement as part of a larger case against former Goldman Sachs board member Rajan Gupta. But Ebrahim's leak wasn't the only Apple-related one to make its way into the high-profile case. Earlier this year, it was revealed that an unidentified person at Goldman Sachs itself had been fingered for leaking secrets about Apple and Intel to a hedge fund manager—a discovery that was made during investigations in the Gupta case. (Gupta is accused of leaking information about Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble; he's not directly related to the Apple leaks except that he interacted with many of the parties who did leak that information).

"I provided insider information concerning AT&T's sales of Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry products, as well as other handset set devices sold through AT&T distribution channels," Ebrahim told US District Judge Paul Oetken, according to Reuters. AT&T, for its part, says it has been cooperating with authorities and pointed out that Ebrahim is no longer employed by the company.

Channel Ars Technica