Largest Counterfeit-trafficking Operation Ever Provided Faulty Equipment To Military Jets, Systems, and Countless Other Sensitive Items
allanswart. Getty Images.The CEO of dozens of companies, including some in New Jersey, was sentenced to over six years in prison after pleading guilty last summer to selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of counterfeit networking equipment that made its way into sensitive places including U.S. fighter jets, federal authorities said Thursday.
Bold. Just straight-up bold. I don't know how you get into the game of faking or counterfeit items that make their way to military planes. Let's put aside the military's complete failure in recognizing these items as fake. You'd think the world's largest and most powerful military would be able to identify equipment that's not quality-checked. Baffling. I mean, it's not like this is a fake purse on the corner in a skeezy New York neighborhood, these are products that are put into planes that cost millions of dollars. Baffling.
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That being said, the balls on this fella is remarkable.
“Through an elaborate, years-long scheme, Aksoy created and ran one of the largest counterfeit-trafficking operations ever,” Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna said. “His operation introduced tens of thousands of counterfeit and low-quality devices trafficked from China into the U.S. supply chain, jeopardizing both private-sector and public-sector users, including highly sensitive U.S. military applications like the support platforms of U.S. fighter jets and other military aircraft.”
F-15 Eagle: Depending on the model, the individual cost of an F-15 can range from around $30 million to over $100 million. Should probably have real products in those bad boys.
F-18 Hornet/Super Hornet: The individual cost of an F-18 Hornet or Super Hornet ranges from $70 million to $80 million for a Super Hornet. Should probably have real products in those bad boys.
F-22 Raptor: One of these shits costs around $150 million. Sure, the cost of each F-22 is wild but the R&D Cost is mindblowing. The estimated total R&D cost for the F-22 program is around $66.7 billion. Should probably have real products in those bad boys too.
I think the craziest part of all this shit is that he only got 6 years. If it's the largest anything criminal in history, you'd think it'd warrant more than six years.
Aksoy was fined $40,000 and must spend three years on supervised release, officials said. Restitution will be decided at a separate hearing, according to authorities.
The scheme generated over $100 million in revenue, netting Aksoy millions of dollars in personal profits, officials said.
The fine seems small for embezzling 100 million plus.
I wonder if they'll ever find out that these pieces of fake equipment resulted in the deaths or crashes of pilots. If so, that punishment should probably be life because he knowingly and willingly provided equipment to all sorts of military assets. That should carry a HEFTY sentence.