Two Plead Guilty to Role in $69 million Counterfeiting Operation
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Wei Tung Lam and Sau Kuen Chan pled guilty May 29 to charges of conspiracy to bribe a public official and to traffic in counterfeit merchandise. Lam also pled guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods. Both defendants were being prosecuted for their role in a counterfeiting operation that allegedly imported more than $69 million of fake Nike shoes into the United States from China. The U.S. Attorney's press release states that Lam and Chan were the last to plead guilty of five individuals who were arrested in August 2006 in what has been described as one of the largest counterfeiting operations in U.S. history. A conspiracy conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. A conviction on charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods carries a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, a $2 million fine or both.
The investigation leading to the arrests was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and culminated in the seizure of 78 sea cargo containers bearing over $69 million of counterfeit merchandise. According to the indictment, the defendants attempted to bribe an undercover federal agent posing as a CBP officer to falsify records so that it would appear as if the shoes were re-exported to Mexico, when, in fact, they were intended for sale in the U.S.