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U.S. arrests three in major fake luxury goods bust

WASHINGTON
Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:37am EST
A fake handbag in Beijing in a 2006 photo. Authorities announced one of the biggest counterfeit luxury-goods busts in U.S. history on Thursday, with the arrests of three New Yorkers on charges of importing fake items from China worth about $100 million had they been real. REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities announced one of the biggest counterfeit luxury-goods busts in U.S. history on Thursday, with the arrests of three New Yorkers on charges of importing fake items from China worth about $100 million had they been real.

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The importers received about $16 million from sales of the counterfeits -- an estimated 300,000 purses, wallets, carry-on bags and other products under brand names including Gucci, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Coach, the Justice Department said.

"This was a sophisticated criminal conspiracy that trafficked millions of dollars of counterfeit goods from China," said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Alice Fisher.

The Justice Department said a U.S. grand jury in Richmond, Virginia, indicted Chong Lam, Siu Yung (Joyce) Chan and Eric Yuen on counterfeit-trafficking charges.

Lam and Chan were arrested on Wednesday at their clothing store in New York. Yuen was arrested on Thursday in Las Vegas.

The United States has long struggled against trafficking in counterfeits and other intellectual property crimes, and has repeatedly pressed China to help crack down.

U.S. Assistant Commerce Secretary David Bohigian said in Beijing last week that China was backsliding on protection for intellectual-property rights.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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