Gaston Bastiaens

Gaston August Johannes Bastiaens (born December 16, 1946) is a former executive of Apple Computer and who was sentenced to three years in prison for corporate fraud in Belgium.Lernout, Hauspie Get Prison Sentences in Belgian Corporate-Fraud Case by John Martens, Bloomberg. 2010-09-20. Archived 2011-06-25.
==Education==
Bastiaens was born in , Belgium and graduated from the .Het Gebeurde in het Westen (van België): Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (Dutch), Mededelingenblad van de Leuvense Germanisten vol.10. KU Leuven, 1997. He received a masters degree in engineering from the .
==Career==
===Philips Electronics===
At in the Netherlands, Bastiaens was director of the Consumer Electronics Division and general manager of the Interactive Media Systems Group, helping to launch the (CD-i) platform in 1990.The Fallen Apple by Owen W. Linzmayer, Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company p.193-196, No Starch Press. 2004.
===Apple Computer===
Bastiaens joined Apple Computer on July 15, 1992 and became the vice president and general manager of the Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) division that was overseeing development of the Newton mobile platform.
During the tradeshow at , Germany in March 1993, Bastiaens bet his against a journalist that the beleagured Newton development team would still be able to ship the Newton MessagePad by the end of that summer. The original MessagePad did launch in August at Macworld Expo Boston, but its Newton OS was beset by numerous bugs, including faulty handwriting recognition. Bastiaens was met with criticism suggesting that he had rushed the release to avoid losing his wine cellar.Today in Apple history: Apple exec bets his wine cellar on Newton by Luke Dormehl, Cult of Mac. 2021-03-27. Bastiaens left Apple in April 1994.
===After Apple===
After briefly working as CEO of , Bastiaens in October 1996 became president and CEO of , a Belgian developer of speech recognition products. In August 2000, He resigned amid a shareholder lawsuit that the company had been reporting falsified sales and revenues. The company's $10 billion disappeared and investors were wiped out.
===Arrest and fraud conviction===
On May 26, 2001, Bastiaens was arrested in by and extradited to Belgium to face trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in prison, with two years suspended on probation. On December 10, 2021, the in , Belgium ordered Bastiaens and other former directors of Lernout & Hauspie to repay 655 million in damages.Another year’s delay for victims of 20-year-old fraud case by Alan Hope, The Brussels Times. 2020-12-04.20 years on: Lernout & Hauspie directors ordered to pay out €655 million to investors by Alan Hope, The Brussels Times. 2021-12-10.
==References==
==See also==
*Jizhong Chen, a former Apple engineer who was charged with theft of trade secrets.
*Paul Devine, a former Apple manager who was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy.
*Gene Levoff, a former Apple attorney who was convicted of securities fraud.
*Dhirendra Prasad, a former Apple buyer who was convicted of mail and wire fraud.
*Weibao Wang, a former Apple engineer who was charged with theft of trade secrets.
*Xiaolang Zhang, a former Apple engineer who was convicted of theft of trade secrets.
==External links==
*Gaston Bastiaens at Lernout & Hauspie (archived 2000-03-01)
*Gaston Bastiaens at Justia Patents
*Gaston Bastiaens at Stanford University Collections
* at Wikipedia
===Articles===
*Today in Apple history: Newton boss departs as device struggles by Luke Dormehl at Cult of Mac (2021-04-19)
*Immortal Code by Martha Baer at Wired (2003-02)
*Lernout's Former CEO Bastiaens Is Arrested in U.S. on Fraud Charges by Mark Maremont at The Wall Street Journal (2001-05-29)
*Urbane Bastiaens heads for L&H ambassador role by Graham Lea at The Register (2000-09-04)
Category:Former Apple employees
Category:Belgium