LAPD HITS BIG

The  LAPD’s  Piracy  Unit  hits  big  once  again  and  recovered  over  $ 400,000  worth  of  counterfeit  merchandise  from  a  warehouse  in  the  Downtown  Los  Angeles  area.  Detectives made four arrests in the investigation.  All  of  those  arrested  had  been  arrested  in  the  past  for  the  sales  of  counterfeit  merchandise.  They  obviously  did  not  learn  the  first  or  even  second  time  around.

The  subjects  sold  their  counterfeit  merchandise,  which  included  fake  handbags,  wallets,  clothing  and  other  items  from  multiple  vehicles  that  they  had  positioned  strategically  around  the  Santee  Alley  area.  They  would  take  their  customers  to  the  vehicles  and  sell  the  items  to  them  from  the  vehicles  all  day  long.  They  would  not  take  any  of  their  customers  to  their  large  warehouse,  unless  they  were  trusted  wholesale  buyers.

Investigators  and  Detectives  from  the  Anti  Piracy  Unit  were  able  to  conduct  surveillance  of  the  subjects  and  identified  the  subjects  warehouse  where  they  had  a  majority  of  their  counterfeit  merchandise  stored.  When  the  warrant  was  served,  the  subjects  were  extremely  surprised  at  how  the  LAPD  was  able  to  identify  all  the  vehicles  involved  in  their  operation  and  their  warehouse.



The  LAPD  has  done  a  great  job  adapting  to  the  way  counterfeiters  are  now  doing  business  in  Los  Angeles.  All  the  subjects  arrested  have  now  been  convicted  of  felony  trademark  counterfeiting

To learn more about IP Crimes, click here  By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

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THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY

Counterfeiting  and  piracy is  a  huge  part  of  the  underground  economy.  The  underground  economy  has  become  a  focus  for  the  California  Board  of  Equalization  as  they  try  to  ensure  that  counterfeiters  are  no  longer  allowed  to  profit  from  their  illicit  activities.  

It  is  estimated  that  the  underground  economy  costs  the  state  of  California  over  500  million  a  year  in  lost  tax  revenue.  Let’s  not  forget  the  ties  to  human  trafficking  and  child  labor.  The  Board  of  Equalization  has  teamed  up  with  Crime  Stoppers,  LAPD,  and  The  Los  Angeles  County  Sheriff’s  Department  to  bring down  intellectual property crimes.

 Jerome  Horton,  The  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Equalization  is  leading  the  charge  and  he  announced  their  efforts  recently  at  a  press  conference  at  the  Port  of  Los  Angeles. 

To learn more about IP Crimes, click here

 By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

RIVERSIDE ENFORCEMENT CONTINUES

Investigators from the Riverside County District Attorney's Office and Agents from Homeland Security Investigations teamed up to take out a long time counterfeiter, who was running her counterfeit operation out of the Riverside Discount Mall. These investigators take brand protection very serious and have focused their efforts to stomp out all intellectual property crimes in Riverside County. They have focused their efforts on taking on every case with the end game in mind. These guys have arrested several small time vendors and flipped them to much larger targets and major suppliers. One of their recent past cases yielded over 2.1 million dollars worth of counterfeit goods. Their efforts and good old police work have really paid off with some outstanding cases! In the most recent case, they were provided information about a subject and her trademark counterfeiting activities. The subject, who was already served with a cease and desist notice for her sales of counterfeit merchandise obviously did not take the hint and like so many others, could not give up her counterfeiting ways because she was making way too much money. Law enforcement arranged to take the subject out. They arranged for an undercover buy to be made. The undercover entered the location and contacted the subject. The subject admitted she was selling counterfeit goods to the undercover. The undercover made a buy from the subject and videotaped the entire transaction. Law enforcement entered the location shortly after and arrested the subject for counterfeiting. They ended up seizing about $100,000 in counterfeit goods. During the investigation, the Investigators gathered information about potential suppliers. I am sure that the Riverside County DA's Office and HSI are following up on the information and they will once again be getting another major seizure from working the case from the bottom to the top!

 By KBuckner, Investigative Consultants

YOU CAN’T ESCAPE THE LAPD!!!

The Santee Alley is world famous for the sales of counterfeit goods. The game has changed down there for the vendors since the LAPD has stepped up their enforcement. The change has been led by the Central Division SLO Office and the Piracy Unit. This has caused the vendors to go “underground” and they no longer feel safe openly offering their counterfeit goods for sale. The LAPD has really put a damper on the sales of counterfeit goods in the area. The vendors have now resorted to operating from vehicles and small warehouses throughout the area. Once the vendors find a “trusted” customer, they will take them to their stash location. The vendors often employ look outs to keep a watchful eye for law enforcement. Unfortunately for one vendor, he trusted the wrong “customer”. The subject led the customer to his small warehouse that was located on the top level of an above ground parking structure. The customer, who turned out to be an undercover investigator, relayed the information to LAPD Officers who quickly devised a plan to take the subject out, but at the same time avoid detection by his multiple look outs. The plan worked and the Officers were able to swoop in and take the subject down along with his large stash of counterfeit goods. The Officers did a great job coming up with a plan on the fly and sending a message to the counterfeiters in the area that the LAPD will get you no matter what precautions you take if you are engaged in counterfeit activity.

 

OREGON CRACKDOWN CONTINUES

Investigators identified a subject that was selling high quality counterfeit jeans at her “Holiday Trunk Show” from a Sports Club facility in Oregon. The subject sold the jeans for over $ 90.00 a pair. Not a bad profit, considering that you can buy a pair of counterfeits for less than $ 20.00. The subject would host her “Trunk Shows” once a month at the Sports Club or at another facility. She was selling everything from fake jeans to sweatshirts and sweatpants. The subject was selling various high end brands and charging top dollar for the items. Trunk Shows and Jean Parties are a common way people are selling counterfeit merchandise. These events are no different than the old “Tupperware parties” that were a huge thing back in the day. Remember, counterfeit goods can and will be sold at any venue where consumers are willing to spend their cash. Investigators received information that the subject was going to host one of her trunk shows. Investigators set up surveillance on the subject’s home in Beaverton, Oregon and observed the subject loading merchandise into her vehicle. Investigators followed the subject to the Sports Club where they watched her unload several plastic bins from her vehicle and take them into the location. A short time later, an undercover officer entered the location and contacted the subject, who had a large display of jeans and other items that she was selling. The officer made purchases from the subject and the items were confirmed to be counterfeit. The subject continued her sales and when she left the location, law enforcement conducted the take down of the subject. When the subject was questioned by officers, she readily admitted the items she was selling were in fact counterfeit. Officers recovered a large quantity of counterfeit merchandise from the subject. Officers were able to determine that the source of the goods was a supplier from New York. Another job well done by The Beaverton Police Department and The Tualatin Police Department. Multiple law enforcement agencies in Oregon have banded together to really put the heat on the counterfeiters. By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

COFFEE SHOP COUNTERFEITER

Trademark Counterfeiting and other Intellectual Property Crimes are a growing trend. The world of criminals has truly changed. The crooks are no longer doing their deals in dark alleys; they are now using their local coffee shops and other trendy hang outs. This was the case with this subject, who was the most recent counterfeit crook taken down by The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Departments, COPS Bureau. If you want to view the arrest and media coverage on this case CLICK HERE. It all started when the subject, who is a convicted felon, got out of the big house and wanted to make a few bucks. So what did he do? He turned to burning counterfeit software from his small apartment and would then offer up the counterfeit software on Craigslist. It’s a great deal for him because each disk costs him under a $1.00 to make and then he turns around and sells the bogus junk for $30.00 each. What a profit margin! We all also need to remember that for every sale he made, the legit software companies were losing a sale. And let’s not forget the legit retail stores selling the real versions of the software were also losing customers. Guys like this are NOT paying taxes on these sales and they are part of the underground economy that is killing our legitimate businesses and causing us losses in the millions of dollars of lost tax revenue every year! The software company in this case tried to get the subject to stop selling the counterfeit merchandise by issuing him a cease and desist notice, however he chose to play dumb and denied he was selling counterfeits. The subject claimed he was just helping people with their software issues and they must have just misunderstood what he was doing for them. In essence, the subject claimed he was just a good guy trying to help friends out. An undercover Investigator with Investigative Consultants contacted the subject and made several undercover buys from him of counterfeit disks. That is when the top cops from LASD's Cops Bureau jumped on the case and arranged a sting operation on him. They arranged for the subject to make several copies of the counterfeit software and had him deliver them to his favorite coffee shop where he met all his customers, however when he delivered the counterfeit goods this time, he was greeted by the Sheriff's Department and Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, Intellectual Property Rights Group. Needless to say, he was surprised by his greeting. He fully cooperated and gave consent to search his apartment where Agents and Deputies found additional counterfeit merchandise and a lab set up to make the counterfeit disks. Detective who handled the case presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and obtained multiple felony filings. The Detective put together a great case and due to his great work, the subject has now been convicted. Another counterfeiter taken out, many more to follow. Great work LASD and HSI on another very successful case. By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

BJ'S FASHION TAKE DOWN

 A local business in Sacramento, California was recently taken down by members of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. The business was BJ's Fashion. The business had been a source of all sorts of criminal activity. Law enforcement suspected that the business was gang related and a haven for some very shady characters. Investigators made multiple undercover buys from the location. The investigators, who have conducted hundreds of UC operations in the past in all types of rough neighborhoods throughout the western United States, said that this was one of the very first times that they were actually scared when they entered the location. They said the location was being operated by a bunch of thugs and that the entire area appeared to be under the control of some very bad folks. The Sheriff's Department obtained a search warrant for the location and took it down with the assistance of ICE. They recovered a large quantity of counterfeit merchandise. The bust was featured by the local news. You can view the footage by CLICKING HERE. It is some very interesting viewing, especially the guy waving the sign! A great and very quick job was done by HSI and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department in this case. This was one of the first trademark investigations that this unit did and all we can say is that they did an outstanding and professional job! The owner has now been convicted of felony trademark counterfeiting. By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

ARIZONA CRACKDOWN CONTINUES

Counterfeiters in Arizona continue to feel the heat as the Phoenix Police Department continues their crackdown on counterfeiters and organized retail crime groups. The Phoenix PD obtained information on a local business that was reportedly selling large quantities of counterfeit merchandise. Investigators traveled to the location and conducted multiple undercover purchases of counterfeit merchandise. The Phoenix PD jumped on it and obtained a search warrant for the location. Officers served the warrant at the location and arrested the owner of the business. Officers recovered handbags, shoes, wallets, sunglasses, belts, scarves and emblems. The store was offering all types of merchandise. You name it and they had it. In all, Officers recovered just under a half a million dollars worth of counterfeit merchandise. Not a bad haul. Officers did an outstanding job of collecting intelligence at the location. Based on the information and intelligence gathered at the location, it appears that the subject was being supplied by vendors from New York and Los Angeles. We applaud the ongoing efforts of the Phoenix Police Department. By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

TORRANCE PD TAKES DOWN A “KINGPIN”

The Torrance Police Department took down a major distributor who has been in business for several years. The subject has been arrested in the past for the sales of counterfeit goods and also for attempting to bribe a police officer to make a case “go away” that involved his wife and her sale of counterfeit goods. The subject operated his organization in a very smart way. He would never deal with any customers directly if he did not know them. He only dealt with people that he had known for years and believed he could trust. It seemed for a while that he was always one step ahead of the law. A couple of months ago, The LA County Sheriff’s Department was two days away from serving a warrant at the subject’s warehouse and locking him up when they learned he had cleaned his warehouse out. We then went back to work in an attempt to identify his new warehouse. It took us a while, but we eventually located his new warehouse. The subject had moved his operation to a Public Storage facility. As we were completing our investigation, we learned that the Torrance Police Department had arrested a vendor selling counterfeit goods. The handling officer did a great job in “flipping” the arrestee. The arrestee agreed to lead the Torrance PD to his source. Guess who the source was? Yes!!! It was the subject we were looking for. The Torrance PD hooked up with The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department - COPS Bureau and HSI’s Intellectual Property Rights Group. They combined forces to take the subject down and they did just that. They obtained and served a search warrant at his storage facility where he was arrested. Law enforcement’s efforts led to the recovery of over half a million dollars in counterfeit goods. This is a great example of outstanding police work by all the agencies involved. By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

IP Crimes in 2011

In 2011, the fight against IP Crimes was taken to a new level. So many law enforcement agencies focused their efforts to go after the trademark counterfeiters and pirates. Intellectual Property crimes have gained the attention of our government and many others, who now see the clear links between these crimes and terrorist funding, organized crime and gangs. In fact, in 2011 there were more documented gang related cases than any other previous year. Gang members becoming involved in counterfeiting is actually becoming a norm. What’s crazy is the fact that so many different gangs have jumped on the counterfeiting band wagon. We have seen so many different gangs, from White Fence, MS 13, Hoover Crips, 18th Street, Los Carnales, Skyline Pirus, Compton Varrio 155, Florencia 13 and so many others. These guys are all smart and realize the money they can make from selling counterfeit merchandise. We can't forget that organizations like Hezbollah and their supporters are also engaging in the sales and distribution of counterfeit goods to raise money for their organization. Groups like this view the United States as their "ATM" machine. They withdraw the money and take it home. We all have to remember what the proceeds from counterfeit crimes are possibly being used for. Intellectual property crimes are continuing to grow in the real world and are really exploding on the internet. Internet counterfeiters think they can hide behind the world of the web. Well at times, this may be true, but i can tell you that law enforcement and many brand owners are also taking the fight to them and disrupting their operations. The fight against counterfeiting and piracy is just like the war on drugs and will never be stamped out. However, the more that the public is educated on the true effects of counterfeiting and how it is truly hurting our economy, the better chance we have to cause the public to think twice about buying counterfeit goods. It’s my belief that if the consumer truly understood the "big picture" about counterfeiting and piracy, they would not support counterfeiters and would not purchase counterfeit goods. Most consumers feel they are just getting a good deal and no one is getting hurt. Well, that is not the case. So many people are the victims of counterfeiting. We can not forget that trademark counterfeiting and piracy have been linked to child labor, human trafficking, murder, extortion, money laundering, narcotics importation, organized retail crime, terrorist funding and many other serious crimes. Let’s continue the fight against fakes in 2012. Many thanks to everyone in the law enforcement community that understand the importance of Protecting the Rights of Creative Minds! By Kris Buckner, Investigative Consultants

Counterfeit Coupons

The  Investigative Consultants team  recently  worked  a  massive  counterfeiting  case  involving  counterfeit  coupons.  The  source  of  the  counterfeit  coupons  was  a  website  that  was  based  in  Phoenix,  Arizona  and  was  distributing  counterfeit  coupons  throughout  the  United  States.  The Internet investigation division  of  IC  was  able  to  identify  the  operator  of  the  website  and  multiple  locations  that  were  associated  with  the  operation.  We  were  amazed  at  the  scope  of  the  activity  and  how  big  the  operation  was.

We  turned  our  investigation  over  to  the  Phoenix  Police  Department,  who  investigated  further.  Based  on  the  entire  investigation,  the  Phoenix  PD  obtained  search  warrants  for  all  the  locations  that  were  involved  in  the  counterfeit  scheme  and  the  massive  intellectual  property  theft.  The  Phoenix  PD  served  the  warrants  and  recovered  over  25  million  dollars  worth  of Counterfeit Coupons.  They  also  seized  assets  worth  well  over  a  million  dollars,  which  included,  14  vehicles,  22  weapons,  and  multiple  properties.

It  was  amazing  to  see  how  much  money  this  counterfeit  operation  was  profiting.  The  assets  seized  included  a  custom  boat  and  RV,  along  with  a  customized  Camaro  and  Vintage  Corvette.  You  would  have  never  guessed  that  a  counterfeit  coupon  operation  could  be  so  lucrative.  Three subjects have been arrested and charged in the case. 

The  Phoenix  PD  worked  alongside  with  multiple  other  law  enforcement  agencies,  including  the  Maricopa  County  Attorney’s  Office,  FBI,  US  Postal  Inspectors  and  others  to  make  this  case  a  huge  success.  This  was  the  largest  seizure  of  counterfeit  coupons  in  US  History  and  it  all  started  with  a  website.  We  applaud  the  OUTSTANDING  work  of  law  enforcement  on  this  case.

You can report counterfeiting to Kris Buckner @ www.investigativeconsultants.com.  There were also multiple media stories that covered the event.  You  can  view  one  of  the  pieces  on  our  YouTube  channel by clicking here.

Kris Buckner