Law enforcement stopped 23 containers filled with knockoff handbags, wallets and belts valued at more than $450 million.
A federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday charged 22 individuals who were allegedly part of a multimillion dollar operation to illegally smuggle Chinese-made counterfeit luxury goods into the United States.
In addition, the U.S. government seized nine properties in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn.
According to court filings, these individuals attempted to smuggle an array of fake items, including knockoff Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch handbags, Michael Kors wallets, Hermes belts and Chanel perfume, in 40-foot ocean containers from China through the Port of New York and New Jersey and elsewhere on the East and West coasts.
Qi Feng Liang, Wo Qi Liu, Zhi Ming Zhang and Yu Ming Wong served as the smuggling ring’s importers, according to prosecutors, who said they fraudulently used names, addresses and other identifying information of legitimate import companies and falsified the descriptions of the containers’ contents on U.S. Customs paperwork.
“They used ‘burner’ phone numbers and ‘burner’ email accounts — obtained by using false or incomplete information — in order to conceal their true identities,” the Justice Department said.
The department said 23 containers had counterfeit goods with manufacturers’ suggested retail prices of more than $450 million.
Defendants Josstina Lin, Xue Wei Qu, Xi Quan Huang, Yun Lei Huang, Yun Wu Huang, Si Lung Chung, Le Wei Zheng, Xiao Ying Huang, Qiong Chan Mu, Ren Zhong Zhu, Cheng Xu Yu, Jin Hua Zhang, Jian Hua Zhu, Yong Lin Dong and Cai Ying Lin allegedly managed the receipt, storage and distribution of the counterfeit goods for the importers. “They resold the counterfeit items to other wholesale and retail sellers in New York, California and elsewhere in the United States,” the Justice Department said.
Wei Mei Gao, Sheng Miao Xia and Jie Mei Chen allegedly used private shipping businesses they controlled to transport the counterfeit goods to the wholesale distributors. They also managed payments between the counterfeit goods sellers and wholesale distributors.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations’ Intellectual Property Group and Border Enforcement Security Task Force and the New York Police Department’s Border Security Enforcement Task Force, along with assistance from Customs and Border Protection, the New York State Police and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Charges filed for counterfeit smuggling
