FBI announces 30 convictions in Cisco counterfeit op
Thirty people have now been convicted of illegally distributing counterfeit Cisco equipment, the FBI has said.
The latest, Ehab Ashoor, on Thursday was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay Cisco $119,400. In January Ashoor was found guilty of charges related to trafficking counterfeit Cisco goods, said an FBI statement.
Ashoor bought counterfeit Cisco Gigabit Interface Converters (GBICs) from a Chinese online vendor with the intention of selling them on to the US Department of Defense, said an FBI statement on Thursday. The GBICs were intended for use by the US Marine Corps in a computer network designed to transmit troop movements, relay intelligence and maintain security for a military base near Fallujah.
The FBI has been running Operation Network Raider in conjunction with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
"These cases involve greedy businessmen hocking counterfeit and substandard hardware to any buyer — whether it could affect the health and safety of others in a hospital setting or the security of our troops on the battlefield," said John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for ICE.
The operation is ongoing.