Apple supplier Japan Display says former executive embezzled nearly $5.3 million

One of the more prominent supply partners for Apple over the years has been Japan Display Inc. It’s a company that isn’t a stranger to money issues, but one of its former executives took it to the extreme.

According to Reuters, Japan Display Inc. has formally dismissed an accounting executive at the company for embezzling $5.25 million over four years. The embezzling scheme has apparently gone on since the company went public back in 2014.

JDI says that up to this point the company is cooperating with the local law enforcement, and that it has filed a criminal complaint against the former employee. The report indicates that the former executive embezzled 578 million yen ($5.3 million) between July 2014 and until October 2018.

The unnamed executive was apparently arranging payments from JDI to a separate, fictitious company over the years.

Japan Display is described as a cash-strapped company. It has recently reported its 11th consecutive quarterly net loss, courtesy of slow display sales and costs related to restructuring at the company. JDI is hoping to get a cash bailout from Apple in the near future, as the company tries to raise upwards of 50 billion yen to keep operations moving forward.

Not great news for JDI by any means. Crazy how long it went on for.