Pentagon Supplier Pays $1 Million Over Allegations It Sold the Military Chinese-Made Parts Under "Buy American" Rules. The Case Stayed Under Seal Until This Week.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A New York businessman and two defense-parts companies agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that they sold the Pentagon Chinese-made products while certifying that the goods met "Buy American" rules, the Justice Department said Oct. 8. The settlement carries no admission of liability.

The case was brought by company insiders under the False Claims Act, and it has been under seal for years. A TDFP review of the federal court docket shows the case number, 2:19-cv-00617, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. The case is captioned United States of America, ex rel. Pat Khamken v. J&P Khamken Industries, Inc. On Oct. 6, 2026, the court entered an order unsealing the case, docket entries show. The Justice Department says the relators were founders and former employees of J&P Khamken Industries (JPK) and will receive part of the settlement.

What the government alleges

According to the Justice Department release, Ranga Ranganathan acquired the assets of Alabama-based JPK in May 2017. After that, the government says, Ranganathan, Nielsen Hardware Corporation and JPK began sourcing components and end products from China and supplying them to the Department of War, directly through JPK or as a subcontractor. The government says the companies submitted false claims for payment backed by certifications that falsely claimed compliance with the Buy American Act and with specialty-metals rules.

The settlement covers Chinese-made aluminum tables, groove pulleys, storage-rack assemblies, portable bath-unit bases, Red Cross vehicle body panels, mounting brackets and 25mm loader-replenisher tables supplied between May 2017 and November 2019, the release says. China is not among the countries the rules allow, it says. Air Force OSI, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and Army CID investigated, with Assistant U.S. Attorney MaryLou E. Bowdre handling the case. All claims "are allegations only," the Justice Department says, and there has been no determination of liability.

What federal spending records add

The Justice Department release does not say which contracts were involved. TDFP searched USAspending.gov, the federal contract database, for awards to J&P Khamken Industries between May 2017 and November 2019. It found 39 awards worth about $4.73 million, most from the Defense Logistics Agency, the Air Force, the Navy and the Army.

Six of those awards are for items with the same names as products in the settlement:

Army (Army Contracting Command-Rock Island): three awards for "ALUM TABLE" part number RIA153184, worth $178,623 (Jan. 2018), $99,572 (April 2018) and $164,187 (July 2019). Place of performance on the July 2019 award is listed as Montgomery.

- Defense Logistics Agency: "BASE, BATH UNIT, PORT" for $66,404 (Dec. 2017), "PULLEY, GROOVE" for $35,645 (June 2018) and "STORAGE RACK ASSEMB" for $44,730 (July 2018).

Together those six awards total about $589,000. That is a match by item name only. Neither the Justice Department release nor the docket entries TDFP could access tie any specific award to the allegations, and the amount actually paid on a contract can differ from the award figure.

Most of JPK's awards in that window, including Air Force and Navy maintenance stands for the F-35, A-10 and F-16, are for items the Justice Department did not name. Nothing in the settlement alleges problems with them.

The company is still a federal contractor. USAspending lists a $512,750 Army contract to JPK, "BGAD - Block Pallet Machine," signed March 10, 2026, through Army Contracting Command-Rock Island with Richmond, Ky. listed as the place of performance. Across all awards on record since October 2007, USAspending shows about $28.5 million in prime awards to JPK across 238 contract awards.

What is not known

- The complaint itself and the settlement agreement are not available in the free public record system. TDFP has not seen them, so the specific programs involved, the number of contracts and the dollar value of the parts at issue are not confirmed.

- The relators' share of the $1 million has not been disclosed.

- Whether the contract awards listed above are the ones at issue has not been confirmed by the government.

TDFP sent requests for comment to J&P Khamken Industries (info@jpkii.com) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama (usaalm.press@usdoj.gov) on Oct. 11. Neither had responded as of 5 p.m. ET on Oct. 12.

Sources: U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Alabama, release dated Oct. 8, 2026; U.S. District Court, M.D. Ala. docket 2:19-cv-00617 (via CourtListener/RECAP, entries dated Oct. 6, 2026); USAspending.gov award records; WSFA 12 News, Oct. 9, 2026. Records reviewed through Oct. 11, 2026.