Rare Wine Dealer Sentenced in Counterfeiting Scheme
“The same old wine in a brand new bottle” is a phrase that aptly describes how fraudsters deceive the public in ever-changing ways. It applies perfectly to Rudy Kurniawan’s profitable and long-running counterfeiting scam—except that Kurniawan was putting new wine in old bottles.Earlier this month, a New York federal judge sentenced Kurniawan to a 10-year prison term for his elaborate counterfeiting scheme in which he mixed newer, cheaper wines together and poured them into old bottles with forged labels.When FBI agents executed a search warrant at Kurniawan’s California home in 2012, they found wine-making materials everywhere in plain sight. “Essentially, the entire house was a fake wine-making laboratory,” said Special Agent Adam Roeser, who helped investigate the case out of our New York Division.
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Police seize counterfeit goods worth £1m in North Manchester raids
Police have seized over £1 million worth of counterfeit goods – including badly-spelled designer brands.Officers raided four shops in north Manchester and found knock-offs including ‘Louis Vitton’ ‘Pacco Rabanne’, ‘Chenelle’ and ‘Jean Paul Gautier’ handbags.
Officers also recovered fake Ugg boots and sunglasses and Mulberry items.The swoops took place on Lockett Street in the Strangeways area on Wednesday.Sgt Andrew Holvey, of the North Manchester Neighbourhood policing team, said: “I would like to thank members of the community for providing us with valuable intelligence which enabled the raids. We are aware this type of crime causes a lot of harm to legitimate businesses and believe this action will be a significant hit to the people that are involved in this type of crime.
Lear More£10 million worth of fake cosmetics seized at Channel Tunnel
Border Force officers at the Channel Tunnel entrance in France have seized around 578 boxes of counterfeit cosmetic gift sets with a potential value of up to £10 million.The seizure was made in the early hours of August 28 as officers carried out checks on a Dutch-registered vehicle en route to a business park in Newcastle-under-Lyme.The Border Force team inspected the load and it soon became clear that the cosmetic sets and their packaging were of inferior quality, so the goods were seized and the investigation has been passed to Kent County Council (KCC) Trading Standards.
Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe said: “I would like to praise my officers for their vigilance in identifying these fakes.
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LVMH, Google unite against fake online luxury goods
PARIS: French luxury products group LVMH and Internet search engine Google have agreed to work together to fight the sale of counterfeit goods online, the two firms said on Thursday.
The agreement ends nearly 10 years of litigation over complaints by LVMH – owner of top luxury labels in everything from champagne to luggage – that the Google Adwords key words service helped counterfeiters sell their products on the back of LVMH brands.
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Philippines wages war on crooked customs agents
MANILA, September 3, 2014 (AFP) – Standing near mountains of goods destined to be smuggled through the Philippines’ biggest port, the nation’s customs chief admits that being on the frontline of the president’s war on graft is overwhelming.”I’ve never seen anything like it,” John Sevilla said, commenting on a pervasive culture of bribery, extortion and stealing at a government agency that collects revenues equivalent to 20 percent of the nation’s budget.”There’s no secret about the fact that this is not an agency which inspires a lot of trust and confidence among our people.”But Sevilla, a former Goldman Sachs executive, has bold plans for systemic change that are showing early signs of success.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/4144/philippines-wages-war-on-crooked-customs-agents/
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Brief: UK shopkeeper jailed for selling fake washing powder
Washing powderA UK man has been sent to prison for 18 months after being found guilty of selling counterfeit washing powder, shampoo and conditioner from his shop in Leyton, London.Ali Riza Bozdag was also ordered to pay £5,000-worth of legal costs and also faces a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) confiscation order which will be decided at a later date, reports the East London and West Essex Guardian.Bozdag’s activities were discovered after customs intercepted 2,640 8kg boxes of fake washing powder en route to his business premises.
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European operation smashes fake medicines ring
Eurojust and Europol logosPolice from several European countries have seized millions of fake medicines, mainly erectile dysfunction drugs, worth an estimated €10m.The one-day operation – spearheaded by Europol and EU judicial unit Eurojust and involving police forces from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and the UK – also resulted in 12 arrests and the seizure of more than €7.5m in cash, bank accounts and assets such as cars.
The raids marked the culmination of an investigation first started back in 2012 that targeted a particular organised crime network deeply involved in the fake medicines trade in Europe. The counterfeit medicines targeted by the operation were imported into the EU from Asia and contain “incorrect dosages and ingredients which pose a serious health hazard”.
Lear MoreThree men from Loughton and east London arrested after police uncover suspected smuggling plot
Three men have been arrested after a raid led to the discovery of a suspected tobacco smuggling plot worth an estimated £2.4 million.The suspects, two from Loughton and one from Forest Gate, all in their late 40s, were arrested on suspicion of tobacco smuggling under the Customs and Management Act 1979.HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers, Essex Police and the National Crime Agency seized 8.5 million cigarettes and 30kg of shisha tobacco as it was unloaded from a container at farmland in Abridge on August 20.
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Forest Gate man among trio arrested on suspicion of tobacco smuggling
A man from Forest Gate is among three arrested on suspicion of smuggling tobacco and cigarettes worth an estimated £2.4 million. They were arrested, and illicit cigarettes and tobacco seized, after a raid by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into a suspected tobacco smuggling plot.
HMRC Officers, supported by Essex Police and the National Crime Agency, seized the 8.5 million cigarettes and 30kg of shisha tobacco as they were being unloaded from a container on August 20 at farmland in the Abridge area of Essex. The haul had arrived in the UK through London Gateway Docks from Dubai. Officers also searched premises in Loughton, Essex, and east London, seizing computers, mobile phones and paperwork.
Lear MoreDoes Alibaba’s IPO Mean No More Fake Luxury Goods?
Liz Flora of Jing Daily believes that Alibaba’s IPO is unlikely to decrease the prominence of counterfeit luxury goods on its platformIt’s official: after months of anticipation, Alibaba is set to hit the market with its U.S. IPO after a two-week global tour to pitch the stock.
In order to gear up for the major new milestone in the company’s history, it has been fervently trying to do away with the reputation that its e-tail sites Tmall and Taobao are hotbeds for fake and gray-market luxury goods. The company faces an uphill battle, however—meaning that luxury brands shouldn’t expect a quick revolution when it comes to taming China’s behemoth fake goods market.
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