By Newsroom America Staff at 5:12 pm Eastern

http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/381605/five_members_of_massive_counterfeit_goods_conspiracy_plead_guilty_.html

(Newsroom America) -- Five members of a massive, international counterfeit goods conspiracy have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme.

Yi Jian Chen, 53, and Hui Huang, 33, both of Brooklyn; and Ning Guo, 40, of People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty to informations charging them each with one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods. Guo also pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy.

Jian Zhi Mo, 45, of Flushing, New York, and Yuan Feng Lai, 28, of New York City, pleaded guilty on August 12, 2013, to informations charging them each with one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court , from August 2008 through February 2012, the defendants ran an international counterfeit goods smuggling and distribution conspiracy.

The defendants and others imported more than 35 containers of counterfeit goods—primarily cigarettes, handbags, and sneakers—into the United States from China in furtherance of the conspiracy. These goods, if legitimate, would have had a retail value of more than $300 million.

The conspirators sought help in importing counterfeit goods into the United States and used a corporation to import the goods through Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

This corporation was actually a front company set up by law enforcement to act as an importer. The conspirators imported the counterfeit goods using fraudulent customs paperwork, which, among other things, falsely declared the goods within the containers.

Certain conspirators controlled the importation of the counterfeit goods into the United States. Some conspirators managed the distribution of counterfeit goods once they arrived in the United States. Others paid individuals they believed controlled an importation company with connections at the port. In fact, these individuals were undercover law enforcement agents.

Some conspirators acted as wholesalers for the counterfeit goods, supplying retailers who sold counterfeit goods to customers in the United States. A number of conspirators, including Guo, also engaged in a money laundering conspiracy to disguise and conceal the source of what they believed to be the profits of certain unlawful activity, moving this money through banks in the United States, China, and elsewhere to disguise the sources of the laundered funds.

Law enforcement introduced several undercover special agents to the conspirators. These undercover agents purported to have connections at the port, which allowed them to obtain containers that were on hold, get them released, and pass them through to the conspirators. The conspirators paid the undercover agents more than $900,000 for these “services.”

Undercover agents recorded dozens of phone calls and in-person meetings with various conspirators. The investigation also utilized several court-authorized wiretaps of telephones and electronic communications.

The conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods count to which the defendants pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $2 million. The money laundering count to which Guo pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the gain or loss caused be the offense. Sentencing for Mo and Lai is scheduled for November 25, 2013. Sentencing for Guo, Chen, and Huang is scheduled for November 25, 2013.