Interim disposal
She wanted to go to his home and sent photos of a pistol: Apple boss Tim Cook defends himself against Stalkerin
Apple boss Tim Cook attaches great importance to privacy, and not only for his customers. The Apple CEO is privately considered retired
© Apple / PR
Apple has obtained a restraining order against a Virginia woman. She is said to have tried to harass CEO Tim Cook physically and online. And she appears to be armed.
Being the boss of the most valuable company in the world gives you a lot of attention that you might rather not get. Apple CEO Tim Cook apparently had to defend himself against a particularly unpleasant way: A woman seems to be downright obsessed with him. Nor did he shy away from extremely threatening behavior.
This is according to court documents released on Monday. As a result, Apple was able to obtain a restraining order against the woman. And reports in the application of tons of unwanted contacts, threatening gestures and even unwanted visits.
Threatening emails and sexual advances
The accused woman from the state of Virginia had started digitally stalking the Apple boss on Twitter. She also called herself Cook, claimed to be the wife of the openly gay CEO and had two children by him. Then she started sending Cook emails to his company address.
Within two weeks she had sent 200 emails, saying the tone had escalated when her sexual advances were not addressed. “It became ominous and highly disturbing,” the motion states. At the peak, she said that her patience was “almost at the end”. Some emails contained photos of a revolver and cartridges.
unwanted visit
But it didn’t stop with digital words and threats. According to local police, a woman reportedly showed up at Cook’s Palo Alto home on October 22, 2020 and asked security to let her see Cook. She is said to have initially responded to requests to leave, but later returned. The police then prevented her from “attempting to flee”. She said she had an apartment in the city and could “become violent,” police said. A gun was not found when searching the Porsche she appeared to have driven from Virginia to California.
But the 45-year-old doesn’t seem to care about Cook himself. She also had hopes of reaping some financial benefit from it. In one of her last emails shortly before Christmas 2020, she asked the CEO to be allowed to move in with him, demanding that he transfer her $100 million. She also founded several false companies in California, Virginia and New York, in the documents she named the Apple boss as the company boss or part of the leadership.
contact ban
The injunction now prohibits her from approaching Cook or other Apple employees, as well as from entering the Apple boss’s property and all of the company’s premises. She was also forbidden from carrying firearms.
It is not known how acutely the law enforcement officers assess the danger. There are no active investigations into the woman, the Palo Alto Police Department told local newspaper Mercury News. A former regional prosecutor stressed that while courts tend to “prefer to be too cautious,” they only issue such injunctions when they see a real possibility that the threats could be carried out. When asked by various media, Apple did not want to comment on the case, and the question of protecting its management members also remained unanswered.
Source:Mercury News