Apple filed for a restraining order to protect its CEO from Julia Lee Choi. He also sent her at least 200 sexually suggestive emails.
Apple has filed for a restraining order against a woman who allegedly harassed the tech giant’s CEO, Tim Cook, who showed up at his home at least twice and sent him threatening photos of guns and bullets, according to court documents.
Cook first found out about his 45-year-old stalker, identified as Julia Lee Choi, in the fall of 2020, according to court documents from the Santa Clara, California, court. Around October and November, she allegedly tweeted that she was Cook’s wife and claimed that the Apple CEO was the father of her twin sons.
Choi also allegedly drove across the US from McLean, Virginia, to Cook’s home in Palo Alto, California, which he visited at least twice on Oct. 22, 2021, according to the documents.
She allegedly demanded to speak to Cook and was turned away by security, but returned minutes later.
Local police officers responded to the search call and took the woman into custody as she tried to flee the scene. According to court documents, she was driving a Porsche Macan with an expired driver’s license and told local police officers who confronted her that she “could become violent.”
Officers searched the vehicle but found no weapons.
Choi also allegedly sent Cook emails accusing the Apple CEO of “abusing” her.
“I have to take mental medicine because of you,” reads an email from November 2, 2020.
The next day, the same Gmail account sent him a photo of a gun, according to the documents.
“My new weapon,” it reads, followed by gun and sunglasses emojis. “I will never return it at this time before shooting!”
Two minutes later, Cook received an image of a box of bullets.
The next day, he received an image of a loaded gun, along with the message: “I warned you and told you to stop trying to kill me. You made me buy this instead of going for a Christmas [tree]. I will NEVER forget to forgive you.”
Other emails include sexual innuendos, with the sender repeatedly referring to Cook as her “husband.”
According to Apple, the woman emailed Cook approximately 200 times.
Last month, he also demanded $500 million in cash to “forget and forgive all.”
“Given [Choi’s] erratic, threatening, and bizarre behavior, including his direct contact with Apple’s executive team, Apple’s CEO, and Apple’s corporate and security teams, all Apple employees should be protected by this restraining order,” says one of the documents.
In another document, an Apple security officer assigned to Cook wrote that Choi had sent her boss a barrage of threats and told Palo Alto police she “could be violent” after sending the CEO multiple warnings to “evict his residence.”
“I am very concerned that my physical safety, along with the safety of the Apple CEO, the other members of the Apple security team, and Apple employees in general, are at risk from [Choi],” wrote José Berrera, Apple’s global security specialist in the petition.
The documents also include screenshots of a Twitter account with the name “Julia Lee Cook” that has the face of the Apple CEO as the main image.
In other tweets, he misidentifies Google CEO Sundar Pichai as “Sandra Pichia” and claims he tried to hurt her “several times.”
Apple’s petition also included business presentations in which Choi allegedly attempted to register bogus corporations, including at least one with a lewd name that listed Cook as an agent.
An Apple spokesman said the company had nothing to add beyond the details of the court filings.
Tim Cook, who celebrated his 10th anniversary at the helm of the American giant in 2021, received $98.73 million in salary, incentives, and stock last year.
Apple is in radiant health on Wall Street, where earlier this year it broke the $3 trillion mark in market capitalization, something unprecedented in the history of the New York Stock Exchange.