A federal jury in Virginia has convicted two people of importing and selling counterfeit computer networking equipment.
Chun-Yu Zhao, of Centreville, and Donald H. Cone, of Frederick, were convicted of running a scheme to import fake Cisco equiment from China, alter Cisco products in the United States and sell them to people who believed the products were real.
According to prosecutors, Zhao’s family members in China ran a large-scale business that produced counterfeit computer networking equipment. In Virginia, Zhao, and others altered Cisco products by using pirated software and making labels and packages that made the equipment appear genuine. They then sold the goods.
“Zhao’s days of taking in millions of dollars from unsuspecting U.S. consumers and businesses are over,” Neil MacBride, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virginia, said in a statement Thursday evening.
Cone is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 19 and Zhao will be sentenced Aug. 26.
