Defense Contractor Enters Guilty Plea For Selling Subpar Parts For American Weapons Systems

(NewsSpace.com) – The United States relies on contractors to provide parts and equipment for its weapons systems development. Sometimes, however, those who sign on to work with the US government do so with ill intentions. That’s exactly what an Orlando woman is accused of doing.

In a news release dated Wednesday, May 8, the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs announced that 36-year-old Yuksel Senbol had pleaded guilty to 25 felonies as part of a scheme “to fraudulently procure contracts to supply critical military components to the Department of Defense.” She and her co-conspirators, fugitives Onur Simsek and Mehmet Ozcan, falsely represented their company, Mason Engineering Parts LLC, as a “vetted and qualified manufacturer of military components.”

In reality, parts were being made in Turkey by Simsek and Ozcan, the former of whom had been barred from working with the US government after a similar conviction.

To help perpetrate the scam, Senbol provided Simsek and Ozcan with export-controlled, sensitive drawings of military technology. In doing so, Senbol violated numerous agreements. Federal investigators eventually learned of the scheme and disrupted it. To make matters worse, the parts the conspirators provided did not conform to specifications, which could have had the devastating effect of rendering the equipment they were using inoperable.

Several agencies investigated the crimes, including the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Office of Inspector General, Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security, and Department of State.

Senbol pleaded guilty to eight counts of wire fraud, seven counts of money laundering, four counts of violating the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), and a single count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate the ECRA, conspiracy to defraud the United States offense, and violating the Arms Export Control Act. She is facing hundreds of years in prison for her crimes. Her sentencing is scheduled for August 6.