News Releases and Statements

ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents protect the United States against terrorists and criminal organizations.

During the course of the operation, ICE HSI agents investigated websites suspected of selling counterfeit goods and illegally distributing copyrighted material in the United States. Once the materials were confirmed as counterfeit or otherwise illegal, seizure orders for the domain names of the websites that sold or distributed the items were obtained from federal magistrate judges.

The owner and manager of a popular Monterey Park, Calif., video store were arrested Monday morning by agents with U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on allegations they illegally imported and sold tens of thousands of Chinese movie DVDs bearing a counterfeit Dolby Digital trademark.

Two Los Angeles-area men will appear in state court here Friday to answer to charges stemming from a probe by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Anaheim Police Department that they illegally imported $2 million in counterfeit collectable Disney pins from China and sought to sell them over the Internet.

U.S. ICE Director John Morton has named Michael Feinberg as the new special agent in charge of the five-state Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office based in the Twin Cities. As special agent in charge, Feinberg supervises a cadre of special agents located in 14 offices throughout Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.

A federal judge has sentenced the husband and wife owners of a downtown Los Angeles jewelry store to 37 months in prison for illegally importing and selling counterfeit designer jewelry, some of which tested positive for hazardous levels of lead nearly 20 times the amount deemed safe by the Consumer Product Safety Commission for handling by kids.

To coincide with World IP Day, ICE' HSI has launched a new PSA that aims to raise awareness of the economic impact of IP theft.

Law enforcement is currently seeking the co-owner of an Anaheim, Calif., online gun equipment business who is charged, along with his business partner and an office manager, in a scheme to sell counterfeit high-tech rifle sights over the Internet.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) opened a new permanent local facility on Friday that will enhance the agency's capabilities and coverage in northern Michigan.

Today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that in fiscal year 2010 their continuing commitment to fight the trade in stolen intellectual property yielded 19,959 seizures, a 34 percent increase over 2009 numbers.

Representatives of industry and local and federal law enforcement agencies attended a group session held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) officials Tuesday to discuss the emerging threat of intellectual property rights (IPR) theft and its connection to organized crime and terrorism.

Bryan McCarthy, 32, of Deer Park, Texas, was taken into custody at his home and is charged with one count of criminal infringement of a copyright. He was the operator of channelsurfing.net, which was seized by federal authorities on Feb. 1, 2011, as part of an ongoing HSI investigation into websites that illegally streamed copyrighted sporting telecasts and pay-per-view events.

"Bakir Rajkotwala, of Kenner, La., was sentenced to six months of incarceration followed by deportation to his native Pakistan for trafficking counterfeit merchandise, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). On Oct. 27, 2010, ICE HSI special agents confiscated about 58 counterfeit ""NFL"" Reebok Saints Jerseys."

"In order to protect consumers from deals that are too good to be true, U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) served court orders seizing 18 domain names of websites selling counterfeit goods over the Internet. This operation dubbed ""Operation Broken Hearted"" is the fourth phase of ""Operation in Our Sites"" a sustained initiative..."

ICE's 'Operation Interception' sacks vendors for more than 3.56 million dollars in fake merchandise

Seizure warrants have been executed against 10 websites that illegally streamed live sporting telecasts and pay-per-view events over the Internet, as part of an ongoing investigation by ICE's HSI.

In a ceremony held at the French ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 2011, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) returned to the French government a rare painting by master impressionist Edgar Degas that had been stolen and lost to the world for nearly 40 years.

A federal grand jury indicted Naveed Sheikh, 30, of Baltimore, late yesterday afternoon for illegally reproducing and distributing over 100 copyrighted commercial software programs.

ICE seizes 163 fake jerseys, some with questionable autographs, from two Phoenix-area sports memorabilia stores.