First Convicted Felon of Counterfeit IC Trafficking Sentenced
WASHINGTON – The US Federal Court sentenced VisionTech Components administrator Stephanie McCloskey to more than three years imprisonment and $166,000 in fines for selling counterfeit ICs to American companies and military.
From 2006 and 2010, VisionTech Components knowingly sold counterfeit ICs to approximately 1,101 buyers in the US and abroad, including counterfeit ICs destined for military applications, says the SIA.
The company, headquartered in Clearwater, FL, created a website purportedly selling name brand integrated circuits, which were primarily acquired from sources in China bearing counterfeit marks and imported into the US for sale to the public. VisonTech sold counterfeit ICs to defense contractors and other manufacturers of critical systems such as brakes for high-speed trains and instruments for firefighters to detect nuclear radiation.
VisionTech and its directors had reportedly generated more than $15.8 million in gross receipts through the sale of counterfeit ICs falsely marked as military, commercial or industrial grade, and often sold at more than 100 to 1000 times their real value.
This is the first federal prosecution of a case involving trafficking of counterfeit integrated circuits.
