An open letter to Mr. Tim Cook, Apple CEO since 2011

Dear Mr. Cook,
My name is Julian Rosengren; I have written, rewritten and sent this very letter several times to the company headquarters, starting with 2002. I always hoped that today’s Apple Inc will finally take the responsibility for the wrongs committed by two rogue employees in a not so distant past.
By doing so, the company would show at long last the full respect deserved by the early pioneers of its worldwide expansion during the 90’s, especially those located in Eastern Europe, where, due to widespread institutionalized corruption, like in my case, the first Apple distributors put on the line not just their life savings, but their very lives.
Unfortunately, Apple has not found neither the time, nor the interest to answer me. It’s time to let the public know the full story and make its own mind. I bet the major Apple shareholders wouldn’t be happy with a permanent stain on an otherwise sterling reputation.
An extremely auspicious beginning
Against all odds, on May 12, 1992, my company Romanian Computer Systems SA was chosen from a field of five (the other four, all government-connected and led by scions of the former communist leadership) as Apple Computer’s IMC in Romania.
Through hard work, determination and an enthusiastic team of people we succeeded in setting Apple on the map of Romania, a country totally dominated at that time by IBM and based mainly on its previous cozy relationship with the former communist regime.
Our quick expansion in the computer market became the local success story of that year. It was quickly picked and rebroadcasted by major news agencies and other media outlets all over the world. We were perceived as an uplifting image for Apple Computer in the formerly communist Eastern Europe and thus a symbol of fairness and of development through free access to information and the democratization of the market place, all this in sharp contrast with Romania’s dictatorial, corrupt and deeply undemocratic past.
We reinvested all the company profits straight back into the Romanian economy, creating hundreds of jobs at a time of great economic difficulties.


Full integration within Apple’s European family
In a market lacking any existing reference equipment for comparison, we had quickly brought the Mac (and its slogan: “The greatest computer ever built”) into the mainstream just by virtue of old-fashioned hard work. The most prestigious media companies and/or major corporations in the country, either local, but also American, German and many others proudly displayed our computers on each management desk available.
The Macintosh became a symbol for the democratic process and we have created the premises and the means for that in a very short time. At a time when the advertising market was just in its infancy, we introduced huge American-style media campaigns and each of them in turn was promptly sensationalized by the media. The Mac started to be considered a fashion item, a technological object of art.
As regards Apple Europe and our integration in its continent-wide management, the responsibility for Romania fell to Apple EMEA in Paris, France and there were no issues that I can recollect. That particular office in Paris was then helmed by Mr. Sergio Nanni, senior Director of Apple Europe and by Mr. Gilles Mouchonnet, former Director and General Manager IMCs, Apple Computer Europe. I got to know them both very well.

Our cooperation with the coordinating team in Paris was great from the start. Its leaders visited at my invitation Romania and had the opportunity to observe our local team in real life work conditions and see with their own eyes the totally unexpected dynamic (for them), created in record time through determination, courage and a substantial investment.
Due to our sustained success, we had decided to invest in the Romanian Apple distributorship over 10 million US$ with just two driving factors in mind: constant growth and expansion. Branches and local offices were opened one by one in all the major cities.
Towards the end of 1992, we had over 300 individuals working with and for the sake of Apple Computer. We felt a certain satisfaction for having put the Mac on its deserved high spot in that country. The entire picture seemed rosy indeed.

Open conflict with the Romanian government
Through a gradual process of which, in retrospect, I wasn’t even aware of, my Western style of management based on merit, my personal belief in the rule-of-law primacy over backroom dealing and eventually my personal involvement in the democratic political movement of Romania — all these aspects combined, brought me in direct conflict with the political power of the moment.
To the new class in power, a second tier of former communist apparatchiks, who had wordlessly traded their drab old uniforms for new impeccable Armani outfits, I represented everything they couldn’t ever be on their own. Eliminating me became a priority.
In short order, a sustained media campaign declared me a public enemy and in a dramatic chain of events started April 13 1993, my life was changed forever. I was arrested without a warrant or any other legal grounds and held behind the bars until December 1996, when due to international pressure I was finally released.
While illegal financial transactions and other accusations were brought but not finalized into the courts of law of Romania, a sudden decision to deport me from Romania interrupted all the proceedings. Perhaps to avoid a brewing international scandal, I became the only Romanian citizen sentenced to deportation out of his own country on seemingly pure economic issues.
The decision was taken not only against the law, but against any plain common sense. The most it achieved, and maybe this was the entire purpose, I had been removed from the scene. Even in jail, I was still in Romania, I was still a presence to be considered. Outside, I could be swept aside.
Confronted with these life-altering events at home, I received then another shock from Apple Computer Europe. The place which my company, Romanian Computer Systems SA, the Romanian IMC for Apple Computer Europe occupied within the Apple family, was suddenly under a dark cloud, although there were no rulings yet against me, and certainly none against the company, which had fulfilled all its obligations under the Apple IMC agreement.
Betrayal by Apple Computer Europe
While I was a private individual the agreement for the IMC was signed between two legal entities and not having me as a part other than the representative of the IMC. Even in Romania at that time as well as now there was a clear distinction between a private individual and a legal entity.
I suddenly found out that all the efforts, work and, most importantly, all the investments I made in putting Apple Computer on top in a decidedly hostile market had been taken away from me by Apple Computer itself and given to another distributor company, without a decision, or even a justification, being ever presented to me, the principal at that moment.
There must be possible judicial ramifications as I discovered the person responsible to defend my rights as a distributor for Apple, Mr. Gilles Mouchonnet, my direct overseer, became the person who also had a financial interest in wrestling the ownership of the company from me, a breach against any moral rule or principle.
I tried to understand why and how all those actions had been possible without discussing the matter with me even if I was illegally detained. No contact with me was attempted, nor was any of my representatives informed. Of course, a compensation which might have made possible for me to insure a proper legal process, was the furthest thing from the mind of those plotting to profit from my downfall.
What’s happening at this very moment
The treatment I got from Romania’s former communist regime was scandalous, but up to a point conceivable, if not acceptable, based solely of their horrendous record of human rights abuses. But never in my dreams would I have suspected that individuals employed by Apple Computer, an iconic world known corporation, were acting in their own narrow personal interest and actually sullying the Apple name in the process.
A company like Romanian Computer Systems SA had gained great value over time and it was now worth a lot of money as it had an established track record in a new and unknown market for Apple Computer. Now someone else was positioning himself to reap the rewards of my 24/7 work, and not only that, had decided to acquire it at a fire sale price by treating me as a non-person, as if I suddenly did not exist anymore.
Why I can understand Apple not wanting to be associated with someone convicted of financial wrongdoing, nothing of the sort happened in my case. I was from any angle one would look at it a political prisoner. The company never allowed due process. As I explained already, no one ever contacted me in order to address these issues and I have to say to Mr. Cook that I am deeply disappointed.
The fact that I am writing this letter to you personally is an expression of respect I still have for the company and its ethics shown in other occasions, but it’s also a last resort attempt to reach an understanding on this matter acceptable for all parties.
I am not driven by greed or a selfish desire to get something which doesn’t belong to me. I sure hope to hear sincere regrets from someone and I expect as well a fair compensation for my sizeable loss. I am surprised actually to see that, despite all my previous correspondence addressed both to the Apple Computer headquarters or directly to Mr. Gilles Mouchonnet, I still got no response from either.
Therefore, I took myself the liberty to write to you again, Mr. Cook, this time in an open format even as I am far from sure that my messages would ever reach your desk.
I would certainly appreciate if any of this blog’s readers would help disseminate my letter, so maybe Mr. Cook will finally accept that I exist and that I’m not the kind of person who’ll quietly disappear into the night with just a whimper.

