North Texas man pleads guilty to lying about origin of his company’s Chinese-made products

A Grand Prairie man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge that he lied to the federal government about where his company’s products were manufactured, authorities said.

Suhaib Allababidi, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham said in a news release. Allababidi’s company, 2M Solutions Inc., also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government and one count of filing false or misleading export information.

Allababidi, owner and president of 2M, admitted that the company claimed its products were manufactured in the United States, when they actually were made in the People’s Republic of China by Chinese companies, according to court documents.

Allababidi represented that 2M made its products in the U.S. in order to secure contracts with government agencies including the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, the release said.

The company provided security cameras, solar-powered light towers, digital video recorders and other electronics to various U.S. agencies.

While 2M did little to no manufacturing, the company put labels on its products indicating they were made in Grand Prairie, authorities said. The company included logos on its packaging with the American flag in the shape of a map of the United States and the words “Made in the USA.”

“By falsely representing that its products were manufactured in the United States, 2M was able to secure contracts subject to the Buy America Act (BAA), a law which generally prohibits United States Government agencies from purchasing products made outside the United States with some limited exceptions,” the release said.

“On one occasion, when products were to be shipped directly from a Chinese company to the government agency, a 2M employee sent the Chinese company an email reminding them, ‘we do not want any Chinese characters or stickers on the shipment’ and adding that such stickers ‘will cause many problems for us.’” the release said.

“The federal government takes pride in purchasing products made in the United States,” Meacham said. “This defendant’s lies undermined the Buy America Act and with it, American manufacturing.”

Allababidi faces up to five years in federal prison. His company faces fines of up to $1 million or twice the amount of criminally-derived property, whichever is greater.