Some 220,000 bags, clothes and shoes counterfeit were seized at UNITED STATES, American justice announced on Wednesday. The total value of this entry is a billion dollars, unheard of in the history of the country.
The announcement from the federal prosecutor’s office in the south of the State of New York is accompanied by photos of a warehouse located Manhattan. Several rooms are filled with boxes piled on pallets and with handbags, wallets, shirts and shoe boxes imitating luxury brands.
A “crime without physical victim”
The market value of these 219,000 seized items was estimated by manufacturers at “approximately $1.03 billion,” according to the press release. Two people residing in New York, aged 38 and 48, were arrested and charged on Monday with “trafficking in counterfeit goods”. If tried, these individuals could face up to ten years in prison.
The trafficking took place from January to October this year, according to American justice. This is the “largest seizure of counterfeit goods in the history of the United States,” said Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams. On the black market, counterfeit and copied items on branded and luxury products are worth much less than the real goods.
Edward Caban, one of the leaders of at the police station of New York, estimated that “trafficking in counterfeit products is nothing less than a crime without physical victims” because “it attacks legal businesses, governments and consumers”. In New York, many street vendors sell counterfeit items, as in many international megacities.
2023-11-17 12:32:36
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