Engineer for Illinois Company Sentenced to Federal Prison for Trade Fraud, Counterfeiting, and Other Fraud Schemes

CHICAGO - A former engineer for an Illinois company has been sentenced to federal prison for manufacturing and selling counterfeit versions of his employer's products and engaging in other fraud schemes.

SHAUN BROUWER worked as a mechanical engineer for an Illinois-based manufacturer of high-performance network infrastructure solutions, including network jacks. Brouwer stole proprietary information from the company and paid three vendors in China to manufacture jack modules and other products and falsely brand them as authentic products of Brouwer's former employer. Brouwer then arranged for the counterfeit products to be sold online.

Brouwer also sold approximately 11,267 authentic jack modules and other products that his employer had sent him after Brouwer falsely represented that he would use them at trade shows. Brouwer admitted in a plea agreement that he sold a total of approximately 160,039 counterfeit and authentic products without the company's authorization, causing a loss to the company of approximately $986,519.

Brouwer further acknowledged that he asked a vendor in China to create fake payment documents to lower the perceived value of some of the counterfeit items in order to avoid attracting attention from U.S. customs officials and avoid paying additional customs duty fees.

As part of his schemes, Brouwer also fraudulently applied for and received a loan under the Covid-relief Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). In 2020, Brouwer received a $20,832 PPP loan for a purported side business and dispersed more than $10,000 of it to the online marketplace in China for counterfeit goods.

Brouwer, 47, of Cedar Lake, Ind., pleaded guilty in December 2025 to a federal mail fraud charge. On May 8, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey I. Cummings sentenced Brouwer to 18 months in federal prison. Judge Cummings found in mitigation that, among other things, Brouwer promptly waived indictment, accepted responsibility, and pleaded guilty to a criminal information.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Kelly.

This case was prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice's Trade Fraud Task Force, which vigorously pursues enforcement actions against parties who seek to evade or otherwise undermine federal customs laws. The Department of Justice recently selected the Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office to be lead prosecutorial partner on the Trade Fraud Task Force. In addition, on April 7, 2026, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.