Indicted Newport Firm Won’t Get Defense Pacts
EIP Microwave, a Newport Beach-based company charged in a federal indictment with making illegal sales of electronics goods, has been barred from receiving Pentagon contracts.
“If the matter is not resolved, it’s going to be a serious problem for the company,” Edward P. Davis Jr., a San Jose attorney representing EIP, said Wednesday. “The company depends a great deal on government contracts.”
EIP makes microwave test and measurement equipment for the defense and telecommunications industries. About 20% of the company’s annual sales come from government contracts.
The Department of Defense notified EIP of the suspension this week and said it will continue until the federal charges are resolved.
The indictment was handed down by a San Jose grand jury last December.
It alleges that EIP falsely stated in July, 1984, that it was shipping microwave-measurement devices to England, when the company knew the equipment was actually destined for an another unidentified country. It further charges that EIP, in a separate deal, failed to file required documents with the U.S. Customs Service when the company exported equipment to Thailand in September, 1985.
EIP has denied acting illegally in either transaction.
A trial is scheduled for April 4 in federal court in San Jose.
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