Commack-based tech firm pleads guilty to wire fraud, illegal importation

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A Commack-based company pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip Tuesday to charges of wire fraud and illegal importation for reselling Chinese goods, claiming those goods were made in the United States.

Aventura Technologies’ guilty plea follows the guilty plea of seven others involved in this scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Officials say that from 2006 to 2019, Aventura took part in a “long-running, lucrative scheme” in which it purchased Chinese-made networked surveillance cameras and other security equipment. The company then resold those goods as U.S.-made, including to multiple agencies of the U.S. government, branches of the military and to customers overseas in the public and private sectors.

The company brought in more than $112 million in sales during that time, officials said.

In addition to the guilty plea, the company agreed to dissolve itself and to forfeit more than $3 million in seized assets, including Aventura’s headquarters and a 70-foot yacht that was partially owned by the defendants, as well as more than 7,000 seized items of merchandise.

Among the seven who pleaded guilty in this case was Aventura’s nominal president Frances Cabasso and its chief executive, her husband Jack Cabasso. The company had indicated to clients that Frances Cabasso ran the company in order to access the ability to bid on government contracts reserved for women owners. She had pled guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in connection with that scheme, officials said.

“For years, the defendants, while pretending to be a women-owned business, intentionally corrupted the U.S. military supply chain by passing off Chinese-made networked electronics with known vulnerabilities as American-made,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a written statement.

“This case highlights the importance of national and international inter-agency cooperation in securing our cyber supply chain and protecting our military readiness,” he added. “We will spare no effort in holding accountable those who undermine and threaten the national security of the United States.”

The company’s marketing relied heavily on U.S. flags and “American-made” branding, and its sales force routinely asserted that Aventura was the sole U.S. manufacturer of security equipment. Officials say Jack Cabasso went to “extreme lengths to conceal the Chinese origin of his products,” while at the same time writing to U.S. government procurement officials to accuse his competitors of reselling Chinese-made goods.

Aventura’s corporate headquarters also featured a “fictitious lab,” and visitors were told that a separate building was reserved for classified government work and was off-limits to visitors. However, officials said, Aventura did not own or occupy the building in question.

Investigators had intercepted and covertly marked numerous shipments from the People’s Republic of China sources to Aventura’s headquarters. In some cases, cameras shipped from the PRC were pre-marked with Aventura’s logo and the phrase “Made in USA,” accompanied by an American flag.

Others who pled guilty in the case were senior executives Jonathan Lasker, Christine Lavonne Lazarus and Eduard Matulik, as well as employees Wayne Marino and Alan Schwartz.