Twenty two people have been charged with smuggling counterfeit luxury goods made in China into the United States, the Department of Justice said in a news release on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2018) Twenty two people have been charged with smuggling counterfeit luxury goods made in China into the United States, the Department of Justice said in a news release on Thursday.
Earlier today, six indictments and one criminal complaint were unsealed in Federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 22 defendants with illegally bringing into the United States millions of Dollars of Chinese-manufactured goods by smuggling them through ports of entry, the release said.
The defendants trafficked in items that included fake Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch handbags, Michael Kors wallets, Hermes belts and Chanel perfume, all manufactured in China and worth millions of dollars, the Justice Department said.
The charges include conspiracy to traffic, and trafficking, in counterfeit goods; conspiracy to smuggle, and smuggling, counterfeit goods into the United States; money laundering conspiracy; immigration fraud and unlawful procurement of naturalization, the release said.
According to court filings, the counterfeit goods were brought by ocean-going ships to the United States in 40-foot shipping containers, smuggled through ports of entry disguised as legitimate imports and distributed throughout the country.
