News Releases and Statements

Special agents with ICE's HSI, working jointly with officers from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, seized more than $2 million in counterfeit merchandise during a two-day operation dubbed Forged Dreams.

Stanley Kuo Jua Yang, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner, who remanded Yang into custody at the conclusion of Monday's sentencing hearing.

The seized items include counterfeit designer clothing and sportswear, and pirated CDs/DVDs.

The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) announced the kickoff of Operation Holiday Hoax, an international enforcement effort to track down those who are selling counterfeit and pirated products this holiday season.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), law enforcement agencies from Belgium, Denmark, France, Romania and the United Kingdom, and the European Police Office (Europol) seized 132 domain names today that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise online to unsuspecting consumers.

An upstate New York man, Gary C. Hammer, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with trafficking in counterfeit goods. In addition, 15 websites allegedly selling counterfeit sporting merchandise were seized by federal law enforcement agents.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI along with officers from the Maple Shade and Palmyra, N.J., police departments arrested 16 individuals Sunday in Maple Shade and seized thousands of counterfeit items with an estimated retail value of more than $1 million.

Naveed Sheikh, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to and infringing copyrights by illegally reproducing and distributing more than 1,000 copyrighted commercial software programs, with a total value of more than $4 million.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed state search warrants this week against five local vendors and seized more than $200,000 worth of goods, capping a six month crackdown on Orange County retailers suspected of selling counterfeit merchandise called Operation Fashion Faux Pas.

An Austin, Texas, man, Elod Tamas Toldy, was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months and one day in federal prison for mail fraud and trafficking in counterfeit goods and services, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Quynh Trong Nguyen was sentenced Friday to 36 months in prison for selling thousands of units of counterfeit, copyright-infringing computer software. The case was investigated by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Shane Lance of Archdale, N.C., was sentenced Monday to federal prison for conspiring to distribute counterfeit pharmaceuticals and trafficking in pharmaceuticals bearing false labeling and counterfeit trademarks.

Lambert and Lovelady each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

The FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations, ICE's HSI, and CBP are working together to seize illegal and harmful versions of correctable vision lenses and decorative or color contact lenses that are illegally imported and distributed throughout the United States.

"Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have two words for Bay Area vendors hoping to cash in on the World Series by selling counterfeit Major League Baseball (MLB) merchandise - ""you're out!"""

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) seized 795 counterfeit items in New Orleans Tuesday with a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $29,630.

Despite being warned about the counterfeit Dolby trademarks, Chen and the employee re-stocked their shelves and continued to sell the same DVDs with the same counterfeit Dolby trademarks.

Igor Borodin pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. district court in Charlotte to trafficking in counterfeit airbags, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

Over the past 15 months, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has provided extensive training and capacity building to Paraguay's customs office and other Paraguayan law enforcement partners.

Collier Bennett Harper surrendered to federal authorities Monday to begin serving a 37-month prison sentence for importing more than 1,000 counterfeit Microsoft Office CD-ROMs and selling them to unsuspecting customers over the Internet.

The suspects Samar Ayoub, 39, of Dearborn Heights, Mich., and Hussein Jomaa, 30, of Dearborn, Mich., who made their initial appearances in federal court Monday afternoon, are charged in a criminal complaint with knowingly trafficking counterfeit merchandise.

Robin Han, a New Zealand physician who acted as a large-scale supplier of bogus erectile dysfunction drugs to distributors in California, Texas and Europe, was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution on charges stemming from a long-term probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Three Florida men were charged in three separate indictments for trafficking in counterfeit goods. They face up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $2 million. The cases were investigated by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A 37-year-old South Korean national who formerly lived in Everett, Sang Jin Kim, was sentenced Friday to 40 months in federal prison for two counts of criminal copyright infringement following an intellectual property rights probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Following investigations by ICE's HSI, the U.S. Department of Transportation's NHTSA issued a consumer safety advisory today to alert vehicle owners and repair professionals to the dangers of counterfeit air bags.