An Orange County, California businessman was arrested today on federal charges of manufacturing and trafficking in counterfeit Compaq computer memory modules.
     Tony Minh Nguyen, 37, of Huntington Beach, was arrested this morning after being indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana. Nguyen directed sales and production at Dynasty Memory, Inc., a Santa Ana computer supply company.
     The two-count indictment alleges that Nguyen directed Dynasty employees to purchase out-of-date Compaq memory components. Then, Dynasty employees would remove the Compaq labels and, under Nguyen’s direction, they would re-adhere the Compaq labels to non-Compaq memory components, creating a product that would be substantially indistinguishable from genuine Compaq products. Nguyen then directed that these counterfeit parts be sold as the genuine article. The indictment alleges that the scheme ran from August 2000 until December 2000.
     The investigation into Dynasty's sale of counterfeit Compaq parts began when consumers started returning to Compaq memory products that Compaq determined were counterfeit and had originated from Dynasty. Compaq brought the matter to the FBI, which investigated the case that resulted in today’s arrest.
     An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
     Nguyen is scheduled to make his first court appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Santa Ana.
If he is convicted of both charges in the indictment, Nguyen faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and fines of up to $4 million.
     This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

CONTACT: Assistant United States Attorney Tom McConville (714) 338-3590

Release No. 02-156