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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Distributor Faces Charges of Selling Counterfeit Computer Parts

An California electronics broker was arrested at his home Tuesday on federal charges of selling counterfeit computer parts and wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

ORANGE, Calif. (CN) – A California electronics broker was arrested at his home Tuesday on federal charges of selling counterfeit computer parts and wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Rogelio Vasquez, 43, from Orange in Southern California, is charged with 30 counts, including nine counts of wire fraud, 20 counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods and one count of trafficking in counterfeit military goods, according to the California Central District office of the U.S. Attorney.

Old integrated circuits were acquired from a Chinese supplier and repainted and remarked with counterfeit logos from name brand companies, like Xilinx, Analog Devices and Intel, according to the 19-page indictment.

Eight parts sold with the Xilinx mark could have been used to perform military applications, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, Vasquez asked a supplier in China that parts “must look good too” and asked a testing laboratory to provide two versions of a report, with both accurate and “sanitized” results to mask the parts that were used. He also asked the supplier to not use their name on shipments, so his customers could not contact them if they had any questions.

According to prosecutors, Vazquez, also known as James Harrison, operated PRB Logics Corporation in Orange County and remarked parts with false date and country codes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges he sold counterfeit parts from July 2009 through May 2016.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment last week. Federal prosecutors also filed an asset forfeiture complaint against $97,362 in cash seized from Vasquez’s home in 2016 as part of the investigation.

Vasquez faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud charges and 10 additional years for each count of trafficking.

Categories / Business, Criminal, Law

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