Local Investigation Leads to Federal Prosecution and 2-3 year Sentences
A federal judge in Massachusetts imposed significant sentences today on four individuals who had pled guilty to money laundering and to trafficking and conspiring to traffic in counterfeit luxury handbags and wallets worth more than $1 million at average counterfeit prices, and the materials required to manufacture them. The trademarks involved include Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Burberry, and Coach. The defendants, who had been distributing the fakes at a Revere, Massachusetts flea market and at "purse parties" conducted in Massachusetts, were initially investigated by local authorities and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, which referred the matter for federal prosecution.
According to a press release issued by the Office of the U.S. Attorney, the defendants admitted that they had used 13 rented self-storage units as the home base of their counterfeiting operation. Two of the storage units were set up as showrooms in which counterfeit items were on display. Another held a work-table and tools that could be used to turn generic wallets and handbags into counterfeits. The other ten were used for storage. At the time of the raid, the units contained approximately 12,231 counterfeit handbags and 7,651 counterfeit wallets, plus
more than 17,000 generic handbags and wallets, and enough counterfeit labels and medallions to convert more than 50,000 generic handbags and wallets into counterfeits.The four defendants were sentenced to from 2 to 3 years in prison. According to the terms of their plea agreements, the defendants also made over $48,000 in restitution payments to the victim brand owners and forfeited five bank accounts, over $41,000 in cash, two vehicles and the counterfeit merchandise.
The federal investigation, which followed an investigation by the Massachusetts State Police, the Boston Police Department and the Revere Police Department, was conducted by ICE and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam J. Bookbinder in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Unit, and by Senior Counsel Scott L. Garland of the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.