AlCo man pleads guilty to selling counterfeit parts to U.S. Department of Defense

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. - An Alameda County man pleaded guilty Wednesday to selling millions of dollars' worth of old and counterfeit mechanical parts to the U.S. Department of Defense, according to federal prosecutors.   

Steve H.S. Kim, 63, sold counterfeit fan assemblies, including used and surplus fan assemblies that he claimed were new, to the DOD's Defense Logistics Agency, according to U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.  

"Some of these counterfeit fans were installed or intended to be installed with electrical components of a nuclear submarine, a laser system on an aircraft, and a surface-to-air missile system," federal prosecutors said in a news release.   

Kim also falsified labels and tracking documents as part of his scheme to bilk the DOD out of $3.5 million, prosecutors said.   

"Swindling our military is a sure way to find oneself in jail," said U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey. "This office is always on the lookout for fraudsters and will prosecute anyone caught cheating our military by providing products that endanger our service people or compromise our readiness."   

Kim is facing up to 30 years in prison when he's sentenced on July 17 for one count of wire fraud and one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods.