Score:   1
Docket Number:   ED-NY  1:18-cr-00409
Case Name:   USA v. Chen
  Press Releases:
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, six indictments and one criminal complaint were unsealed charging a total of 22 defendants with illegally bringing into the United States millions of dollars of Chinese-manufactured goods by smuggling them through ports of entry on the East and West Coasts.  The defendants were arrested this morning, and their initial appearances and arraignments are scheduled this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom.

The charges include conspiracy to traffic, and trafficking, in counterfeit goods; conspiracy to smuggle, and smuggling, counterfeit goods into the United States; money laundering conspiracy; immigration fraud and unlawful procurement of naturalization.  In addition, the government restrained nine real properties in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York, belonging to the defendants.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brian A. Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York, and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the charges.

“As alleged, the defendants used many forms of deception to smuggle large quantities of counterfeit luxury brand goods from China into the United States, and then profited by distributing and selling the fake merchandise,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “This Office, working with our law enforcement partners, is committed to securing our country’s ports of entry, as well as to protecting the integrity of intellectual property upon which free and fair international trade and markets depend.”  Mr. Donoghue extended his grateful appreciation to the HSI Intellectual Property Group and the HSI Border Enforcement Security Task Force and the NYPD.  Mr. Donoghue also extended his thanks to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the New York State Police and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office for their assistance.

“The defendants allegedly smuggled millions of dollars of counterfeit luxury goods into our country, depriving companies of their valuable and hard-earned intellectual property,” stated Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski.  “The illegal smuggling of counterfeit goods poses a real threat to honest businesses, and I commend our federal prosecutors and partners at HSI and the NYPD for their outstanding work on this important investigation.  The Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable those who seek to exploit our borders by smuggling counterfeit goods for sale on the black market.”

“This investigation exposed the global nature of intellectual property crimes, allegedly being executed by those arrested today. Counterfeit goods manufactured and smuggled from China with a suggested value north of half a billion dollars, were intended to make its way into U.S. markets and into the hands of unsuspecting consumers,” said HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Melendez. “This investigation should be a crystal clear message that counterfeiting and intellectual property rights violations is anything but a victimless crime as it harms legitimate businesses, consumers and governments.”

“Today’s indictments demonstrate our resolve to ensure a level playing field for all, and serve as a reminder that selling fake goods is never a victimless crime,” stated NYPD Commissioner O’Neill.  “Everything about these activities undermines public trust. And the NYPD, in close collaboration with all of our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, will continue to aggressively combat and prosecute the evasive practices of the individuals and companies who attempt to operate outside our laws and regulations.”

According to the court filings, the defendants played various roles in the trafficking of counterfeit goods manufactured in China, brought by ocean-going ships to the United States in 40-foot shipping containers, smuggled through ports of entry disguised as legitimate imports and distributed throughout the country.  The counterfeit goods included items such as fake Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch handbags, Michael Kors wallets, Hermes belts and Chanel perfume.  The defendants’ roles included:

Importers

Qi Feng Liang, Wo Qi Liu, Zhi Ming Zhang and Yu Ming Wong served as shipping container importers.  They arranged to smuggle counterfeit goods into the United States through the Port of New York/New Jersey and elsewhere.  They fraudulently used the names, addresses and other identifying information of legitimate import companies and falsified the descriptions of the containers’ contents on U.S. customs paperwork associated with the containers of counterfeit goods.  They used “burner” phone numbers and “burner” email accounts—obtained by using false or incomplete information—in order to conceal their true identities.  The counterfeit goods were transported by trucks to self-storage facilities in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, New York, where the goods were unloaded and stored.  Qi Feng Liang, Wo Qi Liu, Zhi Ming Zhang and Yu Ming Wong smuggled or attempted to smuggle 23 40-foot shipping containers into the country loaded with counterfeit items.  The estimated Manufacturers’ Suggested Retail Price of these items, had they been genuine, would have been more than $450 million.

Wholesale Distributors

Josstina Lin, Xue Wei Qu, Xi Quan Huang, Yun Lei Huang, Yun Wu Huang, Si Lung Chung, Le Wei Zheng, Xiao Ying Huang, Qiong Chan Mu, Ren Zhong Zhu, Cheng Xu Yu, Jin Hua Zhang, Jian Hua Zhu, Yong Lin Dong and Cai Ying Lin managed the receipt, storage and distribution of counterfeit goods smuggled into the United States by the importers.  They resold the counterfeit items to other wholesale and retail sellers in New York, California and elsewhere in the United States.

Domestic Shippers

Wei Mei Gao, Sheng Miao Xia and Jie Mei Chen used private shipping businesses they controlled to distribute the counterfeit goods smuggled into the United States by the importers and handled by the wholesale distributors.  The domestic shippers also facilitated payments by the wholesale and retail counterfeit goods sellers to the wholesale distributors.

As alleged in the indictments, some defendants additionally conspired to launder the proceeds from the sale of counterfeit goods, and others illegally concealed their involvement in the trafficking of counterfeit goods when applying for immigration benefits.

The charges in the indictments and criminal complaint are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The government’s cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys William P. Campos and Temidayo Aganga-Williams of the Eastern District of New York, Special Assistant United States Attorney Robert Kaftal of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and Senior Counsel James S. Yoon of the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).  Assistant United States Attorney Claire S. Kedeshian is handling the forfeiture aspect of this case.  The investigation was previously led by Senior Counsel Evan Williams of CCIPS.

The Department of Justice’s Task Force on Intellectual Property (IP Task Force) contributed to this case.  The IP Task Force is led by the Deputy Attorney General to combat the growing number of domestic and intellectual property crimes, to protect the health and safety of American consumers and to safeguard the nation’s economic security against those who seek to profit illegally from American creativity, innovation and hard work.  To learn more about the IP Task Force, go to https://www.justice.gov/iptf.  For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny. 

The Defendants:

 QI FENG LIANG (also known as “Alex” and “Mike Sotire”)

Age: 34

Brooklyn, New York

WO QI LIU (also known as “Louis,” “Qi,” “Woqi” and “Big Elephant”)

Age: 43

Brooklyn, New York

ZHI MING ZHANG (also known as “Jordan” and “Four B”)

Age: 43

Staten Island, New York

JOSSTINA LIN (also known as “Tina”)

Age: 42

Brooklyn, New York

XUE WEI QU

Age: 51

Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-419 (WFK)

XI QUAN HUANG

Age: 58

Queens, New York

YUN LEI HUANG

Age: 32

Queens, New York

YUN WU HUANG

Age: 34

Queens, New York

WEI MEI GAO

Age: 35

Queens, New York

SHENG MIAO XIA

Age: 44

Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-408

SI LUNG CHUNG (also known as “Allan”)

Age: 42

New York, New York

LE WEI ZHENG

Age: 42

New York, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-407 (CBA)

XIAO YING HUANG (also known as “Linda”)

Age: 53

Nassau County, New York

QIONG CHAN MU (also known as “Rosanna”)

Age: 26

Nassau County, New York

REN ZHONG ZHU

Age: 31

Nassau County, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-423 (DLI)

YONG LIN DONG

Age: 43

Queens, New York

CAI YING LIN

Age: 43

Queens, New York

CHENG XU YU (also known as “Vic”)

Age: 29

Queens, New York

JIAN HUA ZHU

Age: 52

Queens, New York

JIN HUA ZHANG

Age: 55

Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-396 (JBW)

JIE MEI CHEN (also known as “Jenny”)

Age: 33

Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-409 (BMC)

YU MING WONG

Age: 36

Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-MJ-752

Docket (0 Docs):   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mKLHt7HCT0yOXNO3bFmk68mURt62tAC2w1V38DTtGx0
  Last Updated: 2023-10-14 23:25:50 UTC
Description: The fiscal year of the data file obtained from the AOUSC
Format: YYYY

Description: The code of the federal judicial circuit where the case was located
Format: A2

Description: The code of the federal judicial district where the case was located
Format: A2

Description: The code of the district office where the case was located
Format: A2

Description: Docket number assigned by the district to the case
Format: A7

Description: A unique number assigned to each defendant in a case which cannot be modified by the court
Format: A3

Description: A unique number assigned to each defendant in a case which can be modified by the court
Format: A3

Description: A sequential number indicating whether a case is an original proceeding or a reopen
Format: N5

Description: Case type associated with the current defendant record
Format: A2

Description: A concatenation of district, office, docket number, case type, defendant number, and reopen sequence number
Format: A18

Description: A concatenation of district, office, docket number, case type, and reopen sequence number
Format: A15

Description: The status of the defendant as assigned by the AOUSC
Format: A2

Description: A code indicating the fugitive status of a defendant
Format: A1

Description: The date upon which a defendant became a fugitive
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: The date upon which a fugitive defendant was taken into custody
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: The date when a case was first docketed in the district court
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: The date upon which proceedings in a case commenced on charges pending in the district court where the defendant appeared, or the date of the defendant’s felony-waiver of indictment
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: A code used to identify the nature of the proceeding
Format: N2

Description: The date when a defendant first appeared before a judicial officer in the district court where a charge was pending
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: A code indicating the event by which a defendant appeared before a judicial officer in the district court where a charge was pending
Format: A2

Description: A code indicating the type of legal counsel assigned to a defendant
Format: N2

Description: The title and section of the U.S. Code applicable to the offense committed which carried the highest severity
Format: A20

Description: A code indicating the level of offense associated with FTITLE1
Format: N2

Description: The four digit AO offense code associated with FTITLE1
Format: A4

Description: The four digit D2 offense code associated with FTITLE1
Format: A4

Description: A code indicating the severity associated with FTITLE1
Format: A3

Description: The title and section of the U.S. Code applicable to the offense committed which carried the second highest severity
Format: A20

Description: A code indicating the level of offense associated with FTITLE2
Format: N2

Description: The four digit AO offense code associated with FTITLE2
Format: A4

Description: The four digit D2 offense code associated with FTITLE2
Format: A4

Description: A code indicating the severity associated with FTITLE2
Format: A3

Description: The title and section of the U.S. Code applicable to the offense committed which carried the third highest severity
Format: A20

Description: A code indicating the level of offense associated with FTITLE3
Format: N2

Description: The four digit AO offense code associated with FTITLE3
Format: A4

Description: The four digit D2 offense code associated with FTITLE3
Format: A4

Description: A code indicating the severity associated with FTITLE3
Format: A3

Description: The title and section of the U.S. Code applicable to the offense committed which carried the fourth highest severity
Format: A20

Description: A code indicating the level of offense associated with FTITLE4
Format: N2

Description: The four digit AO offense code associated with FTITLE4
Format: A4

Description: The four digit D2 offense code associated with FTITLE4
Format: A4

Description: A code indicating the severity associated with FTITLE4
Format: A3

Description: The FIPS code used to indicate the county or parish where an offense was committed
Format: A5

Description: The date of the last action taken on the record
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: The date upon which judicial proceedings before the court concluded
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: The date upon which the final sentence is recorded on the docket
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: The date upon which the case was closed
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: The total fine imposed at sentencing for all offenses of which the defendant was convicted and a fine was imposed
Format: N8

Description: A count of defendants filed including inter-district transfers
Format: N1

Description: A count of defendants filed excluding inter-district transfers
Format: N1

Description: A count of original proceedings commenced
Format: N1

Description: A count of defendants filed whose proceedings commenced by reopen, remand, appeal, or retrial
Format: N1

Description: A count of defendants terminated including interdistrict transfers
Format: N1

Description: A count of defendants terminated excluding interdistrict transfers
Format: N1

Description: A count of original proceedings terminated
Format: N1

Description: A count of defendants terminated whose proceedings commenced by reopen, remand, appeal, or retrial
Format: N1

Description: A count of defendants pending as of the last day of the period including long term fugitives
Format: N1

Description: A count of defendants pending as of the last day of the period excluding long term fugitives
Format: N1

Description: The source from which the data were loaded into the AOUSC’s NewSTATS database
Format: A10

Description: A sequential number indicating the iteration of the defendant record
Format: N2

Description: The date the record was loaded into the AOUSC’s NewSTATS database
Format: YYYYMMDD

Description: Statistical year ID label on data file obtained from the AOUSC which represents termination year
Format: YYYY

Data imported from FJC Integrated Database
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