Peter Picone, owner of Tytronix and Epic International Electronics, has been charged for selling counterfeits to both military and commercial companies. This is just one of a few different cases brought against electronic component brokers over the last few years. There are so many companies out there doing the same thing as Picone, but it takes years to build a case and prosecute so they are not brought to justice often enough. At least this tells the broker community that they better think twice about selling counterfeits or even suspect counterfeits. To read the Department of Justice’s detailed statement click here.
Robb Hammond is the founder and CEO of AERI, an independent electronic component distributor operating since 1994. He is a founding member and former committee chair of SAE AS6081, the counterfeit-avoidance standard for independent distributors adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense, and a recognized authority on counterfeit detection.
