Counterfeits get countered.
The Feds just shut down a $500M counterfeit luxury goods ring, wth the seizer of 22 large shipping containers filled with fake Louis bags, Chanel fragrances, Hermes belts (of course) and a heap more that were due to land at ports in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles.
Plans of them being sold on the black market were thwarted, with 33 people were arrested in the sting operation that has been ongoing for 6 years, reports say.
Those allegedly involved have been hit with charges of conspiracy, trafficking counterfeit goods and trademark counterfeiting. The fakes have been traced back to it’s production in China, with manufacturing and shipment of suppliers being connected to “legitimate” ones in the U.S., according to the New York Times.
But we all know the fakes and the real ones came from the same factory, anyway.
The U.S. Homeland Security Investigation team has been credited for the bust who also seized 9 properties in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn — all are linked to those charged.
“The defendants allegedly smuggled millions of dollars of counterfeit luxury goods into our country, depriving companies of their valuable and hard-earned intellectual property,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said about the bust