Aventura Technologies, which supplies US military, charged with selling illegal Chinese surveillance and security equipment
- Some imports sold with fake ‘Made in USA labels’; scheme discovered after Chinese security service badge was spotted in device software
- Aventura sold at least US$20.7 million in equipment to US government customers, including the Army, Navy and Air Force
US federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges accusing a New York company of exposing the US government and private customers to security risks by illegally importing and selling surveillance and security equipment from China.
The charges against Aventura Technologies, which is based in Commack, New York, and seven current and former employees were made public on Thursday in the federal court in Brooklyn. Six of the people have been arrested, including Jack Cabasso, the man accused of leading the scheme.
Prosecutors said the defendants falsely told customers that Aventura’s products were made in the United States rather than imported, mainly from China, in a scheme that ran from 2006 until this month. Some of those products carried known cybersecurity risks, according to prosecutors.
The company’s largest customers are US government agencies including the Army, Navy and Air Force, though it also sold to private companies, making about US$88 million since 2010, prosecutors said.
“Aventura not only defrauded its customers, but also exposed them to serious known cybersecurity risks,” US Attorney Richard Donoghue said at a news conference in Brooklyn.