Investigations

On September 29, 2010, Steven Jay Sanett, the president and chief executive officer of Penta Financial, Inc., doing business as Penta Laboratories (Penta), was charged with fraud involving aircraft parts and mail fraud for falsely representing the origin, source and condition of electron tubes.

Mr. Sanett allegedly instructed Penta employees to prepare labels, packaging and paperwork bearing false or misleading information about the electron tubes sold for use in commercial and military aircraft, medical equipment, and ground based radar.  In addition to removing and replacing the original manufacturers' logos and part numbers, Mr. Sanett allegedly directed Penta employees to ship refurbished electron tubes instead of new ones and fill customers' orders with electron tubes that originally had been manufactured by different manufactures and modified by Penta to look and function like the electron tubes the customers had ordered.

The two counts of criminal information filed against Mr. Sanett carry a combined maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in federal prison.  This investigation was conducted jointly with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Note: Indictments, informations, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the government, all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.