Former Apple engineer Andrew Aude found himself in hot water when Apple filed a lawsuit against him for leaking confidential information to the media. Aude, who worked on Apple’s iPhone operating system iOS, used his work-issued iPhone to send thousands of text messages to reporters from The Wall Street Journal and The Information over a five-year period.

Apple accused Aude of leaking information to the media in an attempt to sabotage certain products and features that he disagreed with. The company claimed that Aude enjoyed the attention he received from the media and sought to undermine Apple out of vanity.

Aude’s communication with reporters included sending over 1,400 text messages to a Wall Street Journal reporter using the Signal encrypted messaging app. In one message, he expressed excitement about causing chaos at Apple before corporate employees woke up. Additionally, Aude sent more than 10,000 texts to a reporter from The Information and even traveled across the country to meet with her.

When confronted by his superiors last fall, Aude denied leaking any information and claimed he didn’t have his work phone with him. However, he later admitted to deleting evidence from his phone during bathroom breaks to cover his tracks.

Despite being given an opportunity to cooperate with Apple’s investigation, Aude refused, leading Apple to pursue legal action against him for damages. The lawsuit aims to hold the former engineer accountable for his actions and protect Apple’s confidential information.