News Releases and Statements

Daye Dong, 49, and Hongyu Chen, 48, are charged with importing counterfeit goods from China into the United States with the intent to distribute and sell the counterfeit products to retailers in New York City and elsewhere.

The jackets, seized by HSI in 2015, will eventually end up at nearly 100 local charities. In an event held Tuesday by the NCDA’s office, representatives from the charitable organizations, including The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Long Island, arrived with their empty trucks ready to be filled. Special agents from HSI New York were on hand to deliver the goods.

With Halloween rapidly approaching, federal law-enforcement authorities are issuing a consumer warning against dangerous counterfeit contact lenses and unapproved decorative contact lenses illegally sold at retail outlets and online that can cause eye infections, conjunctivitis and impaired vision.

Nicholas Ramon Ramirez, 60, of Madera, was taken into custody at Del Valle Food, located in the 200 block of 9th Street. During a search of the store, HSI special agents recovered a large quantity of misbranded medications and pharmaceuticals, including three bottles of the powerful pain killer Tramadol, a controlled substance which can cause addiction and even death if misused. 

Sidney A. Lucas, 34, was sentenced Aug. 25 to 33 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000 derived from the counterfeit DVD distribution and money laundering scheme. His co-conspirator and girlfriend, Katrice R. Cleary, 24, was sentenced Aug. 26 to three years’ supervised release and ordered to forfeit $50,000.

Victor Lamar Coates, 47, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to conspiring with convicted co-conspirator Martez Gurley, 41, of Napa, California, to traffic in counterfeit and misbranded Viagra and Cialis, and introducing those drugs in interstate commerce.

The counterfeit merchandise seized included shoes, hats, purses, various clothing items and other luxury accessories.  These items were found to be imitations of name-brand merchandise, such as: Nike Air Jordan, Michael Kors, Timberland, North Face, Polo, NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB.

Artem Vaulin, 30, of Kharkiv, Ukraine, was arrested in Poland and is charged via criminal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering and criminal copyright infringement.  

During the operation, HSI special agents and partner law enforcement officers targeted 14 retailers of counterfeit goods infringing on the trademarks of Gucci, Michael Kors, Prada, Channel, Ray Ban, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Oakley, Nike, Ray Ban and the National Basketball Association. 

The honey likely originated from the same exporter in Vietnam as another 60 tons of honey that was seized by HSI Chicago in the Midwest in April. Wednesday’s seizure was allegedly imported into the United States by a shell importer of record in New York, New York. Agents located the honey by combing through transportation shipping records to piece together its whereabouts.

“Within the law-enforcement community, it is important that we come together regularly to share experiences and learn from each other; whether it’s talking about the investigative techniques that are working well, or simply shedding new light on emerging threats,” said Deputy Director Ragsdale. “Training sessions such as this also give us an opportunity to share key information and further enhance best practices.”

Tuesday’s enforcement actions were carried out by more than 50 special agents and investigators from ICE HSI; the California Department of Public Health’s Food and Drug Branch; the California Franchise Tax Board; and the California Department of Justice eCrime Unit.

Operation In Our Sites is the major effort ICE investigators, industry and international law enforcement conduct in order to eliminate copyright infringing websites selling counterfeit goods that may threaten the health and safety of consumers. 

Tatiana F. Tascon, 40, of Coconut Grove, pleaded guilty to the charges April 13, as part of her sentence she agreed to forfeit $78,949.45 as well as two properties in Miami.

While sports merchandise is a popular choice, intellectual property thieves will counterfeit any product that can be sold or marketed.  Among the most troubling trends is the burgeoning availability of counterfeit drugs, medical equipment, aircraft and automobile parts, computer hardware, military components, and electrical safety devices.

Patrick Badal, Kaium Shah, Kenny Ni, Abul Kashem, and Parvez Shazzed face charges of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, trafficking in counterfeit packaging and smuggling goods into the United States.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents stationed in the United States, Canada, France and Netherlands were recognized by L. Carlos Linares, vice president of Anti-Piracy Legal Affairs at RIAA, for their role in aggressively pursuing a North Carolina man who had personally pirated upwards of $7 million worth of songs, albums and other copyright protected content on the websites RockDizMusic.com and RockDizFile.com before they were seized by HSI authorities in 2014.

Hongwei “Nick” Du, 33, of Shenzhen, China, admitted Wednesday in U.S. District Court to conspiring with two El Centro residents to traffic counterfeit goods and money laundering. Du further admitted he coordinated the shipments of the Chinese-made counterfeit products in a manner designed to prevent customs officers from detecting them.

The three shipping container loads (195 barrels) of bulk honey smuggled into the United States were falsely declared as originating from Vietnam to evade anti-dumping duties applicable to Chinese-origin honey.

Bruce Foucart, director of the ICE-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), testified to the dangers of fake goods during a hearing to discuss counterfeits and their impact to consumer safety. He sat on a panel of experts that included representatives from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), Proctor and Gamble and Revision Military.

The seizures follow an investigation and several undercover buys from the websites. Late last year, HSI special agents bought multiple brand-infringing auto parts from the online retailers and subsequently confirmed with trademark holders that the items were fraudulent.