Reston's Vibrant Economy Part 16: When power amplifiers are banned, only criminals will have power amplifiers

A Reston company pleaded guilty to illegally selling technology with military applications to China.

WaveLab Inc. pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to unlawful export of electronic components.

In court documents, the company's chief executive, Walter Zheng, admitted that WaveLab shipped hundreds of power amplifiers to China even though it knew the technology had military applications and required an export license that WaveLab lacked.

The company has agreed to forfeit $85,000 (€55,134) _ roughly equivalent to the profits from the sales. It could be forced to pay a fine of up to $500,000 (€324,317) when it is formally sentenced on June 6. A man who answered the phone at WaveLab said everyone was too busy to talk and hung up.

Shocking. Dismaying. Downright unpatriotic. What the hell is a power amplifier, anyway?

Meanwhile, the usual suspects lost wheelbarrows full of money this last quarter: Millennium Bankshares Corp. lost $9.9 million in 2007, which sounds pretty bad until you realize that Sprint Nextel, which will soon be renamed the Kansas Down Home Cellphone, BBQ and Whatnots Corp., lost a staggering $29.45 billion--that's billion, with a "b"--in the fourth quarter alone. They should probably check all the desk drawers before decamping to Kansas. And Albert Lord, the trash-talkin' CEO of Sallie Mae, had his salary cut from $3 million to a mere $1.25 million. But Sallie Mae only lost $1.64 billion last quarter, so those performance incentives ought to be kicking in just about any time now!