Earlier this 12 months, Apple sued leaker Jon Prosser alongside Michael Ramacciotti, alleging the 2 had a “coordinated scheme to interrupt into an Apple improvement iPhone, steal Apple’s commerce secrets and techniques, and revenue from the theft.” Nonetheless, in a new filing, Ramacciotti “denies that he deliberate or participated in any conspiracy or coordinated scheme” with Prosser” and that, to the perfect of his recollection, any fee he obtained from Prosser “was paid after the actual fact and was not agreed to upfront of the actions and communications.”
Apple’s lawsuit accused Ramacciotti of accessing the event iPhone of former Apple worker Ethan Lipnik after utilizing location monitoring to find out when Lipnik “can be gone for an prolonged interval.” He then allegedly confirmed Prosser options of the yet-unreleased iOS 26 over a FaceTime name. However in his courtroom submitting, Ramacciotti “admits that he accessed Lipnik’s Apple Growth iPhone and carried out a FaceTime name with Prosser, and Prosser requested Defendant to indicate sure iOS options,” although he “denies that he tracked Lipnik’s location.”
In line with Ramaccioti’s submitting, a number of weeks previous to that decision, Lipnik had “sat down” with Ramacciotti and “swiped by way of” new iOS options on that iPhone. Ramacciotti “didn’t totally admire the sensitivity of the event model of iOS on the Growth iPhone” due to Lipnik’s “willingness” to indicate the options to him.
The legal professionals say that Prosser provided Ramacciotti $650 “in some unspecified time in the future after the FaceTime name” and that Ramacciotti “didn’t provoke communications with Prosser primarily based on any promise by Prosser that he would particularly pay” for the data. Whereas Prosser did pay Ramacciotti the $650, Ramacciotti “wasn’t anticipating any fee from Prosser.” Ramacciotti claims he didn’t know Prosser was taking a video of the decision. He additionally “denies he stays in possession of any Apple commerce secrets and techniques and denies having any extra recordings or different types of Apple confidential info.”
Prosser and Apple didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Prosser advised The Verge final week that Prosser has been in “active communication” with Apple over the lawsuit, however a number of days later, the corporate Apple mentioned that Prosser “has not indicated” when he might reply to it. A clerk has entered a default towards Prosser, that means the case can transfer ahead although he hasn’t responded, and Apple intends to file for a default judgment towards Prosser.