The whole thing is a sham. If I found a phone in a bar I couldn't tell an IPhone from some crazy Chinese export. Yet some guy in a bar can identify prototype apple hardware by sight and begins a bidding war? The Apple Engineer and his buddies concocted this whole affair to make money.
The guy that "found" the phone picked it up and turned it on. The new phone has over 2x the resolution, so despite it being disquised in a faux case, it probably was evident that he had something unique in his hands.
He should've turned it over to the bartender or immediately to the police.
If the engineer was in on it (and I don't think he was) it brings into play a litany of industrial secrets law, which actually would be far worse for Gizmodo.
The sun has fallen down
And the billboards are all leering
And the flags are all dead at the top of their poles.