Feds: Counterfeit submarine parts shipped to Groton base

Groton — The U.S. Naval Submarine Base on at least three separate occasions received counterfeit semiconductors from Hong Kong or China, though it is unclear whether any of the components wound up on a nuclear submarine.According to the indictment this week of a military-components distributor who was charged on counts of conspiracy, fraud and trafficking, Peter Picone, 40, of Methuen, Mass., and unidentified co-conspirators shipped the counterfeit integrated circuits to the sub base between November 2011 and February 2012. At least two of the circuits were intended for active-duty nuclear submarines in Groton, though there was no indication in the indictment whether they actually had been used on board a sub. One was intended for an alarm panel, while another was to be used in a radio-transmission test, the indictment said.  “I have to buy China and risk fake parts to compete. … It’s my whole biz,” the indictment quotes Picone as saying in a 2008 instant message.  The indictment also tied Picone — who owns Epic International Electronics and once headed electronics distributor Tytronix Inc., both based in Massachusetts — to the shipment of other counterfeit products from Hong Kong or China to unidentified Connecticut customers. In addition, a defence contractor in Florida bought 33 integrated circuits from one of Picone’s companies to be used during repair work on an active-duty nuclear submarine’s secondary propulsion system, the indictment said.

 

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