Federal prosecutors have accused a New York-based firm of falsely claiming security equipment sold to the U.S. military was made in the U.S. when it was actually produced in China.
The Associated Press reported that Aventura Technologies Inc., based in Long Island, allegedly “sold tens of millions of dollars in Chinese-made surveillance and other sensitive security equipment to customers, including the U.S. military to use on aircraft carriers, by falsely claiming the goods were manufactured in America.”
U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue is now investigating the company, and said evidence suggested “individuals in China were well aware of what was going on,” though it does not appear as though the Chinese government was directly involved with the purchases.
The equipment was “installed on dozens of Army, Navy and Air Force bases, Department of Energy facilities and, among other places, on Navy aircraft carriers,” according to the criminal complaint reviewed by the AP.
Not only did the company allegedly falsely claim its products were made in America, but prosecutors accuse it of covering up its lies by relabeling merchandise to show U.S. labels. The AP reported that the company “also circulated a photo that an Aventura executive, Jack Cabasso, showed the company’s assembly line, but was actually an image of workers in a Chinese facility.” – READ MORE