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Manhattan, NY - Prosecutors: Impostor Sold Counterfeit Chinese-Made Train Parts to MTA |
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The scheme "raised the prospect of accidental injuries to (transit) passengers and employees," District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told reporters.
Morgenthau said that some of the inferior parts installed in subway trains and buses were identified and removed before they could cause any harm.
J. U. the 47-year-old Brooklyn man agreed as part of a plea deal in state court in Manhattan to pay $125,000 restitution and $200,000 in taxes, prosecutors said. He also will be on probation for five years.
In a scheme dating to 2003, he concealed a checkered past with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by using legitimate distributors' names in bids for contracts for ball bearing parts used in train motors and bus transmissions, Morgenthau said. In one recent instance, while already under investigation, he used the name of a transit parts seller who had been dead since 2005.
J. U. managed to win contracts requiring him to provide parts manufactured domestically. Prosecutors said he secretly boosted profits by supplying counterfeit Chinese-made parts that were up to $10 cheaper per unit.
The inferior parts had the potential to wear down more quickly and cause blown engines, authorities said.
"While the counterfeit bearings used here ... do not appear to have endangered our riders, counterfeit parts are always risky and never acceptable," MTA Inspector General Barry Klugar said in a statement. "Indeed, in a worst-case scenario defective bearings could actually lead to a derailment."
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Read Comments (5) — Post Yours »
1
Jun 24, 2009 at 07:20 PM Anonymous Says:
let the ignorant people, who don't know a thing of how the MTA runs, commence their bashing....
2
Jun 24, 2009 at 10:58 PM Anonymous Says:
there is no bashing, and the the MTA doesn't run, it barely crawls.
3
Jun 25, 2009 at 07:56 AM Z. N. Mishegoss Says:
The MTA's procurement division is generally OK, they're human and make mistakes sometimes. However, as long as the primary criteria on a procurement award is lowest bid, there will be a fast buck artist who will try to game the system.
4
Jun 25, 2009 at 10:49 AM Raphael Kaufman Says:
There is nothing inherently wrong with using non-OEM replacement parts. Aftermarket parts are used in many industral applications and are usually equal in quality to OEM parts or, in some cases, actually superior. The problem here, as I read the article, is that he violated the contract which specified domestic manufacture. The parts that he supplied, made in China, are not necessarily substandard, they just weren't "Made in USA". The claim that they were inferior and represented a risk to the riding public sounds dubious to me but, not having inspected them myself, I cannot positively dispute it. (Note: OEM stands for: Original Equipment Manufacturer)
5
Jun 25, 2009 at 01:40 PM Anonymous Says:
He was impersonating a dead salesman .... Did he wear Tachrichim?