August 8, 2025, 10:06 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Apple enthusiasts who want to pay quickly and easily on the go are likely to make extensive use of Apple Pay. The development is extremely convenient, turning your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Watch into a payment card. However, a company has now filed a lawsuit over Apple Pay.
Lawsuit Over Apple Pay for Idea Theft
This is according to a press release from Fintiv, Inc. It states that a lawsuit has been filed over Apple Pay. The allegations are serious, as they go beyond what is typically known in such cases.
Specifically, the iPhone manufacturer is accused of stealing trade secrets and Fintiv’s own mobile wallet technology to develop Apple Pay. The company from Cupertino, California, allegedly accomplished this through “criminal activities” and “electronic fraud.” As a result, Apple is said to have violated the U.S. RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations)–a law originally introduced to combat organized crime.
Apple Allegedly Poached Employees
The lawsuit over Apple Pay claims that Apple approached Fintiv’s predecessor, CorFire, with the intention of forming a mobile payment partnership. This was more than ten years ago. Between 2011 and 2012, several meetings reportedly took place where Apple received numerous confidential pieces of information.
The idea was for Apple to license CorFire’s technology and pay the corresponding fees. Instead, the information was allegedly stolen, and key CorFire employees were poached before Apple Pay was introduced in 2014. Core innovations that supposedly originated from CorFire include the “Secure Element” and NFC technology, as well as the “Trusted Service Management” platform.
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Criminal Enterprise with Banks
Another serious allegation: Apple is said to have formed an illegal enterprise, an “association-in-fact enterprise,” with banks and payment providers such as JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Visa, and Mastercard. This was allegedly done to process billions of transactions annually via Apple Pay and thereby generate revenue.
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As “LSD.law” writes, an “association-in-fact enterprise” is a group of individuals or entities pursuing a common goal without forming an official legal entity. The mere existence of such an association does not constitute a violation of the RICO Act. However, according to the current lawsuit over Apple Pay, if business is conducted with stolen technology, this approach could be deemed criminal.
It’s About Billions
Fintiv believes that Apple Pay is the driving force behind this entire association. They claim it generates billions of U.S. dollars, which would not be possible without the stolen information. For Fintiv, this is just one example of a pattern of behavior by Apple that they have been pursuing for years.
Namely, pretending to form partnerships to then steal information and poach employees. One example mentioned is Masimo Corp., which developed blood oxygen monitoring technology that Apple allegedly stole for its Apple Watch.
How this matter will proceed remains to be seen. TECHBOOK has reached out to Apple for a statement regarding the lawsuit over Apple Pay. A response has yet to be received.