7 Queens residents caught counterfeiting

From the Times Ledger:

Authorities seized more than $2 million worth of counterfeit goods in Queens bearing logos of such designers as Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, The North Face and Versace.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said seven borough residents were charged in connection with the investigation that enabled authorities to confiscate some 13,000 fake items, ranging from belts and handbags to watches, boots and scarves.

“Trademark counterfeiting is not a victimless crime,” Brown said. “Small counterfeit operations like this one discovered as a result of this investigation fuel an underground economy.”

Dubbed “Operation Treasure Hunt,” the probe began last summer and it was led by the NYPD, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and Brown’s office.

According to five criminal complaints filed by the DA, the knockoffs were seized from storage facilities located in Jamaica and College Point.

“They are cash businesses that pay no taxes, damage the reputations of reputable brand owners and lower consumer confidence in the name brands by foisting inferior products into the marketplace,” Brown said.

During the operation, police arrested Naqing Zhang, 31 and his wife, Wei Wei Dong, 32, of Whitestone; Chin Chu, 43, and his wife Jian Xia, 38, of Flushing; Sai Chen, 39, of Flushing; Wei Liao, 41, of Jamaica; and Pizhong Zhou, 22, of Douglaston.

The defendants face up to four years in prison if convicted of trademark counterfeiting charges. They were released on their own recognize.

There's a fake Mr. Softee out there

From the Daily News:

Mister Softee is anything but soft when it comes to safeguarding his cherished name.

The New Jersey-based owner of the ubiquitous ice cream trucks is suing a rogue Queens vendor, charging he opened his depot in Long Island City to peddle a knockoff version.

A mix of about two dozen nearly identical Master Softee and Mister Softee trucks are lined up inside and outside Dimitrios Tsirkos’s 11th St. garage.

The fledgling business has soured tempers throughout Mister Softee headquarters in South Jersey and its franchisees across Queens and the Bronx.

Owner Jim Conway cried trademark infringement in a March lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court and demanded Tsirkos drop the Softee con.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain is expected to rule this month whether Master Softee trucks should be yanked off city streets. Conway is also seeking a six-figure payout to cover unpaid licensing and marketing fees Tsirkos still owes.

Case of the counterfeiting couple

From CBS New York:

Authorities conducted a major bust of counterfeit bags, watches and sunglasses Wednesday afternoon at a small store in Lower Manhattan.

Investigators piled garbage bags containing the knockoffs at the corner of Canal and Lafayette streets.

The husband and wife team of Chen Zhibin and Yun Wei Huang – of College Point Queens – were arrested and charged with trademark counterfeiting and criminal tax fraud. They were awaiting arraignment late Wednesday afternoon.

They operated the Mendi Gift Shop at 251A Canal St.

Did spy shop peddle phony DOT placards?

From the Daily News:

The feds have uncovered something other than cloak-and-dagger stuff going on at the Queens Spy Shop.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted a shipment of 1,000 counterfeit hologram logos for New York City Department of Transportation parking permits sent from India to the East Elmhurst store, which sells high-tech surveillance equipment. DOT issues only about 500 legitimate permits.

An airway bill which described the contents of the shipment only halfway truthfully as "plastic pouches" didn't fool the agents who made the seizure on Aug. 18 at Kennedy Airport, according to a search warrant affidavit unsealed Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

The counterfeit items were indeed clear plastic sleeves with the official-looking DOT hologram embossed on the surface and is used as a cover for the parking permit which authorizes employees to parking just about anywhere in the city.

The Queens Spy Shop on Astoria Blvd. is not an authorized vendor of the parking pass, Homeland Security special agent Rosanna Licitra stated in the affidavit.

"There is probable cause to believe that the (Queens Spy Shop) manufactures counterfeit NYCDOT permit parking passes," which makes it a federal crime to traffic in goods using a counterfeit mark, the agent stated.

The spy shop is operated by Jonel Van Demark who was charged by Manhattan federal prosecutors with bank fraud last July.

Vibrant and diverse crew busted for counterfeiting

From Bayside Patch:

Residents from Oakland Gardens, Bellerose and Great Neck were among 19 people arrested in a trademark counterfeit ring bust, the Queens district attorney said.

Police dismantled four organized trademark counterfeit rings based in Queens on Wednesday and the defendants were arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter.

The groups allegedly imported and sold counterfeit brand name apparel and other items from China to wholesale buyers throughout the United States and the Virgin Islands, Queens DA Richard Brown said. A total 19 defendants are currently in custody.

Among the defendants was Oakland Gardens’ Suk B. Yi, 18, who was charged with enterprise corruption and trademark counterfeiting. His ball was set at $100,000 and he was forced to surrender his passport. He will return to court on Jan. 28.

Bellerose’s Bobak Ahouraie, 23, was charged with trademark counterfeiting. He will return to court on Nov. 21.

And Great Neck’s Jan Sanandaji, 37, an alleged wholesale buyer, was charged with trademark counterfeiting and will return to court on Jan. 29.

Other Queens defendants included Flushing’s Jian Zhong Jian, 43, and Xiu Wei Ye, 43 and Woodhaven’s Samantha Defreitas, 26.

The alleged bosses of the operation include Brooklyn’s Izak Chaloh, 28, Yosif Mamrout, 33, and Yu Zhen Cao, 39.

Other Brooklyn defendants included Laureano Lopez, 29, Wei Feng Cao, 45, and Zhi Wei Liang, 53. Staten Island’s Xiu Yin Jin, 34, was also arrested.

The DA said the groups allegedly operated from self-storage facilities in Queens and Brooklyn, generating approximately $10 million in combined gross annual revenue.

Counterfeit Angry Birds toys seized

From DNA Info:

An alleged counterfeit-toy ring that supplied fake Angry Birds and Disney merchandise to stores around the city was broken up last week, according to the Queens District Attorney's office.

Ying Jiang, 38, Deqiang Luo, 49, and Haiwei Chen, 54, were charged with first-degree trademark counterfeiting, a crime that could net the trio up to 15 years in prison, the DA's office said.

According to the complaint, Epstein Drangel LLP, the intellectual property firm representing Angry Birds' creator Rovio Entertainment and Disney Enterprise, hired private investigator Richard Taute to go undercover at the warehouse of J & L Trading at 15-17 132 St., near 15th Avenue.

Taute met with the alleged counterfeiters on April 6 and said he wanted to make a purchase, according to the court documents.
He then allegedly bought knapsacks, watches, umbrellas, pencil cases, caps, toy cars and action figures emblazoned with Angry Birds, Disney and other logos and characters.

According to the law firm, the retail value of the products is estimated to be as much as $500,000.

Luo, of Whitestone and Chen, of Flushing, were released immediately, while Jiang, who is also from Whitestone, was held on $5,000 bail.

Cheats and frauds

From Fox 5/AP:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is upgrading technology used to combat a swindle of the nation's $64.7 billion food stamp program that diverts as much as $330 million annually.

The goal is to decrease food stamp trafficking, where retailers trade customers lesser amounts of cash for stamps. Authorities say the stamps are then redeemed as usual by merchants at face value, netting them huge profits.

The practice is a federal criminal offense. Authorities say the crime has brought 597 convictions nationwide and recovery of $197.4 million since 2008.

From the NY Post:

As the state looks to root out Medicaid abuse, the office charged with investigating fraud in the program has shrunk to just four people.

The state Office of the Welfare Inspector General is half the size it was in 2007 and about a third its size of a decade ago.

There are just two special investigators left on staff — down from six in October 2007.

OWIG handled 217 investigations in 2007 but merely 109 last year.

From the NY Post:

The State Liquor Authority is cracking down on tax-dodging city bodegas that smuggle cases of beer in from New Jersey.

A growing number of local shop owners load up their vans and trucks with beer from Jersey discounters to save nearly $6 a case in fees and taxes.

From Metro:

The city announced yesterday that it is suing a Manhattan smoke shop that allows patrons to roll their own cigarettes, only days after a Queens man was arrested for allegedly selling thousands of counterfeit, untaxed cigarettes.

New York has filed suit against Island Smokes, a Chinatown-based shop that city officials say evades cigarette taxes by providing customers with tobacco, rolling papers and access to machinery that rolls their cigarettes for them.

“They are trying to get around the law by claiming they’re not in the business of selling cigarettes when they clearly are,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Island Smokes argues that they don’t sell manufactured cigarettes and therefore cannot be taxed.

The suit comes after the Queens district attorney office filed charges against Abdus Shahed, 31, on Friday and confiscated 5,000 cartons of cigarette from his home in Woodside, Queens. Officials also found $96,000 in cash there. Nearly 2,000 of those cartons were counterfeit, officials said.

Buy a fake, go to jail

From the NY Post:

Buyers could face a year in jail or a $,1000 fine under a proposed bill by a city councilwoman fed up with cheapskate tourists and Big Apple residents flooding her district in search of fake designer merchandise.

"We don't want to be known as the place to come to get counterfeit goods," said Councilwoman Margaret Chin, whose Chinatown district is ground zero for counterfeiters.

Under Chin's bill, which is being introduced Thursday, shoppers caught buying any counterfeit product could be jailed or slapped with a fine of $1,000 -- a little less than the price of Marc Jacobs' frequently copied Baroque Quilting Mini Stam bag, which retails for $1,250.

"It's a very big problem," Chin said of the counterfeit market. "People are still coming, and the industry is growing, and we have to stop the demand. We need people to know that they are feeding this demand."

Several of Chin's colleagues have expressed support for the bill, and she already has five co-sponsors.

The punishment might seem draconian, but it's necessary to curb the growing problem, she said.

She pointed out that the money that counterfeiters rake in often funds other nefarious activities, such as terrorism and unsafe child-labor practices.

Beware of fake Pillow Pets

From the Daily News:

U.S. marshals have seized thousands of bunnies, frogs, ladybugs and monkeys stashed in a Queens warehouse.

They are guilty of impersonating Pillow Pets, the plush folding animals held dear by children - and parents who say they're the only things that get their kids to nap.

The counterfeit pillows will remain in custody while lawyers for Pillow Pets seek punitive damages against Concord Toys International, which makes the made-in-China fakes.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano signed an injunction restraining Concord from manufacturing any more of the knockoffs and expressed concern about possible danger to any kid cuddling up to the creatures. "This is particularly troubling given the potential that [Concord's] products may pose a potential public health risk," he wrote in a court order.

CJ Products, the maker of Thumpy Bunny, Squeaky Duck, Ms. Lady Bug and Silly Monkey, among others, filed suit under seal recently in federal court so the counterfeiters would not be tipped off to the coming raid. Private eyes hired by CJ tracked the bogus pillows to a Flushing Ave. warehouse on the Brooklyn-Queens line, where marshals seized 17,000 items.

Counterfeit goods seller busted

From Douglaston Patch:

A 48-year-old Bellerose woman has been convicted of selling counterfeit handbags and sneakers bearing the logos of a number of popular, and often expensive, brand names in northeast Queens, the Queens district attorney said.

Ai Zhang, of 82-05 County Pointe Circle in Bellerose, was convicted yesterday before Queens Supreme Court Justice James Griffin on five charges of trademark counterfeiting following a two-week jury trial, Queens DA Richard Brown said.

The defendant, who will return to court on Dec. 20 for sentencing, faces up to 15 years in prison, the DA said.

Zhang sold fake Coach, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Nike products from a store located at 161-11 Jamaica Ave., the DA said. The total street value of items recovered by police is estimated at more than $175,000, he said.

Queens counterfeiters busted on Long Island

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Police in Suffolk County have arrested and charged two Queens men with counterfeiting handbags with a street value of over $100,000.

Police identified the men as 32-year-old He Bao, of Corona, and 26-year-old Jie Dai, of College Point.

Officers responded to Tell Avenue Mini Storage, located at 308 Commack Road in Deer Park around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

They seized more than 200 boxes containing the Coach and Louis Vuitton handbags from a self-storage container and a rented box truck.

International counterfeiting ring busted

From the Times Ledger:

A Whitestone resident and another Queens man were among nine people indicted in an international counterfeiting and smuggling ring that delivered goods to sites in Ridgewood and Maspeth as well as College Point, federal authorities said.

Kin Yip Ng, 43, of Whitestone and Yenn-Kun Hsieh, 45, of an undisclosed location in Queens, were charged along with a Brooklyn woman, two Malaysians and four Chinese citizens with conspiring to smuggle counterfeit shoes, handbags and wristwatches into the United States, the Maryland U.S. attorney’s office said.

According to a federal indictment issued March 16, the defendants arranged with undercover agents from the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Bureau to import and clear shipments of counterfeit products into the United States without paying federal taxes and customs duties.

The nine defendants manufactured, brokered and distributed the fake Nike, Coach, Gucci and Cartier goods, importing them from Malaysia and China, federal prosecutors said. The items arrived in Baltimore, where the shipping containers were unloaded and delivered to locations in Ridgewood, Maspeth and College Point, as well as Brooklyn and New Jersey, prosecutors said.

The alleged smugglers imported 130,000 pairs of counterfeit shoes and 500,000 fake designer handbags, officials said.

Hsieh, Ng and others also allegedly paid the undercover agents extra to launder money for their ring and at one point paid the agents to ship three cargo containers to England, prosecutors said.

10 stores raided in Chinatown

"Counterfeit cornucopia"

From the Times Newsweekly:

Just days before the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, police seized a bounty of counterfeit designer merchandise with a estimated street value running into the millions from a Maspeth warehouse during a raid on Tuesday, Nov. 24, it was reported.

In all, more than 4,000 boxes containing counterfeit sneakers, handbags, wallets and shoes bearing brand name labels such as Nike, Gucci, Coach, Chanel and Louis Vuitton were among the items found by officers inside the facility. Police sources estimated that the inventory had a street value of about $10 million.

Authorities said that two vehicles — including a rental truck — and 9mm handgun were also recovered by police during the raid.

Officers from the precinct reportedly learned of the illicit enterprise while responding to an assault of a 22-year-old businessman at the location last Saturday night, Nov. 21.

During the incident, authorities said, the victim — 22-year-old Victor Hsiao of 207th Street in Bayside — was allegedly beaten with baseball bats by two Corona men — 32-yearold Zhe Song Yu and 25-year-old Feng Chen, both residents of 43rd Avenue — at around 7 p.m. last Saturday over an apparent dispute related to the merchandise inside the Flushing Avenue facility.

The officers reportedly spotted the attack in progress and brought it to an end.

Both Yu and Chen were taken into custody at the scene on assault charges. A third individual at the scene — 17-year-old Fei Peng of Holly Avenue in Flushing — was also cuffed after allegedly presenting police with forged identification.

While investigating the incident at the scene, the 104th Precinct officers reportedly learned that Hsiao was allegedly in possession of 40 cases of counterfeit merchandise.

Though Hsiao was not seriously injured in the attack, law enforcement sources said, he allegedly attempted to flee inside a truck. However, his flight from the law ended abruptly when the truck struck a concrete pillar.

Hsiao was arrested at the scene and charged with trademark counterfeiting.