Officials at American DeForest had engaged in some of the same stock selling excesses that had occurred at American DeForest, and as part of the United States government's crackdown on stock fraud, de Forest and four other company officials were arrested and charged with "use of the mails to defraud" in March 1912. De Forest eventually pleaded guilty and was fined $10,000. In addition to being a pioneer in radio technology, Lee De Forest was also a prominent investor and businessman in the early years of the electric light industry. He founded DeForest Radio Company in 1906 and over the next several years developed many successful consumer products, including the Audion microphone which used magnetic induction to convert audio signals into electrical current for amplification and playback. The DeForest Radio Company was the first to provide radios for consumers at prices they could afford. In 1913, DeForest sold his interest in the company to Western Electric for $1 million in cash and WESTERN shares worth $15 million. Lee De Forest's arrest and conviction for mail fraud caused a public relations nightmare for his family business. His father, John De Forest, who was president of American DeForest at the time of his son's arrest, resigned shortly thereafter. The company's reputation was destroyed and it went out of business a few months later. However, American DeForest did not commit suicide; it was taken over by new management who moved its operations to Tennessee where the DeForest name remains popular among radio enthusiasts today.