News Releases and Statements

HSI Orlando special agents also worked with the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation organized crime section on human trafficking enforcement activities and outreach, as part of January’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

The seizures were part of Operation Team Player, an ongoing effort developed by the HSI-led Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Center to target the illegal importation and distribution of counterfeit sports merchandise, and were revealed in Miami, Florida, at a joint press conference with the National Football League (NFL), HSI, CBP and the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD).

As the excitement of football builds in the Bay Area, sports fans around the city, state and nation, seek out team adorned gear to show support as the Super Bowl nears. Another group paying close attention to sports-related items, is the men and women of ICE's HSI, San Francisco, and CBP.

ICE HSI seized more than 700 counterfeit sports-related items worth an estimated $300,000 during a joint anti-counterfeiting operation Monday in downtown New Orleans the day of the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Zoulin Cai, a.k.a. “Allen Cai,” 28, of La Puente, was arrested at his residence this morning on a federal grand jury indictment unsealed today. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment this afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

HSI Boston Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Molina and CBP Director of Field Operations for Boston Michael Denning provided an overview of the work that HSI and CBP do to combat counterfeit items and products that violate intellectual property rights.

The ongoing IPR enforcement initiative targeting fake websites, dubbed Operation In Our Sites, was facilitated by the IPR Center, a joint-task force agency led by ICE, FBI and CBP.

This operation vastly exceeded the HSI New Orleans 2018 totals, which resulted in 6,800 seized items valued at $800,000.

During the first two games of the 2019 World Series, HSI encountered an increase in the sale of counterfeit tickets.

Monday’s seizures are part of a larger trend the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has tracked throughout the country. The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) is reviewing an annual report on the number of IPR seizures that have raised the total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the seized goods – had they been genuine – to $1.4 billion.

Saad Ahmed, a Las Vegas businessman, admitted before a U.S. magistrate judge Sept. 5 to conspiracy to traffic counterfeit good, importing counterfeit cellular phone parts and accessories from China for retail to unsuspecting U.S. consumers.

The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) is reviewing an annual report on the number of IPR seizures that have raised the total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods – had they been genuine – to $1.4 billion.

John Seil Lee, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, who ordered him remanded into federal custody. Judge Anderson – who also ordered Lee to pay more than $552,000 in restitution to his victims, including men who were injured by Lee’s misbranded pills – remarked in court on Lee’s “callousness” and how Lee’s “scheme has literally ruined lives.”

HSI’s forced labor programs coordinate and initiate criminal investigations into U.S.-bound supply chains whose goods are made wholly or in part by means of forced labor.

This surge initiative in the Bay Area is in furtherance of an HSI-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) strategy for targeting the importation, smuggling, and trafficking of counterfeit goods. The goal of this operation is to identify and interdict counterfeit products entering the US at International Mail Facilities and Express Consignment Hubs, and then for HSI field offices to initiate investigations to disrupt and dismantle those organizations involved in these criminal acts.

HSI’s preliminary numbers reflect that nearly 1600 counterfeit items were seized June 7th and June 13th during their investigative efforts. These items included but were not limited to t-shirts, hats, jerseys, cell phones cases, cell phone ‘pop sockets’, event passes, and tickets.

The IPR Center conducted 339 foreign and domestic intellectual property rights and commercial fraud training events in FY 2017, reaching 14,258 participants. Domestic training events included the IPR Center’s Counterfeit Awareness, Mitigation, Identification, and Reporting Training.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) recently named Steve Francis as the new assistant director of the HSI-led Global Trade Investigations Division (GTID) and director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center).

Fake jerseys, ball caps, t-shirts, jackets and other souvenirs are among the counterfeit merchandise and clothing typically sold during these events. Additionally, authorities have seen an increase in the sale of counterfeit tickets being sold to these events.

A federal jury found Anthony Lazzarino, 68, former Chief of Podiatry for the Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Northern California Health Care System, and Peter Wong, 61, founder and CEO of Sunrise Shoes and Pedorthic Service Corporation, guilty, Friday, May 17, of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

In one of the new cases, Ronald Daniel Scott, a.k.a., “Danny Scott,” 49, of Stevenson Ranch, agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. Scott is the chief executive officer of Premiere Sales Group, Inc., a Santa Clarita-based company that also agreed to plead guilty to the same charge.

Chan Hung Le, 44, was arrested Tuesday morning by special agents with ICE's HSI pursuant to a criminal complaint that charges him with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, conspiracy to illegally import merchandise, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Univar USA Inc. (Univar), a subsidiary of Univar Inc., of Downers Grove, Illinois, has agreed to pay the United States $62.5 million to settle allegations under the customs penalty statute that it was grossly negligent or negligent when it imported 36 shipments of transshipped saccharin between 2007 and 2012.