Amplifiers & Missile Target Acquisition Technology to China

On May 14, 2009, Joseph Piquet, the owner and President of AlphaTronX, a company in Port St. Lucie, Fla., that produces electronic components, was sentenced in the Southern District of Florida to 60 months in prison followed by two years supervised release. On March 5, 2009, he was convicted of seven counts arising from a conspiracy to purchase military electronic components from Northrop Grumman Corporation, and to ship them to Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China without first obtaining required export licenses under the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Among those items involved in the conspiracy were highpower amplifiers designed for use by the U.S. military in early warning radar and missile target acquisition systems, as well as low noise amplifiers that have both commercial and military use. Piquet was first indicted on June 5, 2008, along with his company, AlphaTronX, Inc, as well as Thompson Tam, and Ontime Electronics Technology Limited. Tam is a director of Ontime Electronics, an electronics company in China. On March 2, 2009, the Court ordered the dismissal of the indictment against AlphaTronX. Tam and Ontime Electronics Technology Limited are fugitives. This investigation was conducted by BIS and ICE.