Boise (670 KBOI News) – The US Attorney for Idaho announced indictments against 10 people accused of buying, repackaging and selling counterfeit electronics on eBay and Amazon.com. Indictments were also handed up against six people on drug and other charges in a separate investigation, which led to the counterfeiting investigation.
US Attorney Bart Davis said selling counterfeit goods is dangerous to the US trademark system, and to the US economy in general.
“This type of fraud hurts not only the thousands of unsuspecting consumers, who purchased counterfeit goods, but also the companies, the trademark holders,” said Davis. “Counterfeited products degrade the good will of trademark holders, and pose a serious safety risk to the community.”
Davis says since the counterfeiting and other charges against the 10 are so serious, they face serious consequences.
“If convicted, these defendants face up to 20 years imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine on the money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud counts,” he said. “And they face up to 10 years imprisonment and a $5 million fine on the counterfeit trademarked goods trafficking counts.”
They are accused of importing counterfeit Apple and Samsung phones, as well as Apple i-Pads and i-Pods and accessories, from China and Hong Kong, repackaging them in the Treasure Valley, then selling them on eBay and Amazon.com.
The indictment includes a list of property forfeited by the defendants, including cash, cars, homes, and additional counterfeited goods.
The investigation goes back four years…but some of the defendants were in court in 2006 and 2010 for counterfeiting and selling Virgin Mobile and Tracphone products.
Click below to see documents released by the US Attorney’s Office:
Counterfeit indictment & order
