The US Department of Justice announced today that a California man has pled
guilty to trafficking counterfeit computer chips to the US military. Neil Fehaly
agreed to cooperate with the government as part of his plea deal, and he faces
up to five years in prison for passing off bogus versions of chips from Intel,
VIA, STMicro, Analog Devices, and other chipmakers to the Navy. These
counterfeits, some of which were outright fakes from China, and others of which
were "remarked" versions of cheap chips that had been made to look like more
expensive parts, have gone into countless critical military systems since the
scam started, possibly endangering the lives of military personnel and civilians.
