N.J. Man Gets One Year in Prison for Counterfeit Nike Imports
A New Jersey U.S. District Court judge sentenced a man to a year and a day in prison for his part in an international conspiracy to import counterfeit Nike shoes from China. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh on Oct. 22 sentenced Aref Abuhadba, of Totowa, N.J., after he pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to traffic in counterfeit goods, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the New Jersey District. Abuhadba had already presented the government with a $200,000 check during his plea hearing to cover his proceeds from the operation. Judge Cavanaugh ordered him to pay another $25,000.
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According to the attorney’s office, Abuhadba and others between 2003 and 2010 conspired to import counterfeit Nike sneakers and Walt Disney-brand comforters from China into the United States. A conspirator in China acted as a middleman between the manufacturers in China and Abuhadba in the U.S., buying the goods and arranging for their shipment to various U.S. ports of entry. Once the goods arrived, other conspirators arranged for the goods’ delivery to warehouses and other locations controlled by Abuhadba, who would then distribute the counterfeit goods to consumers, the attorney’s office said.
Abuhadba was also responsible for collecting money from customers and wiring the proceeds of the scheme to the conspirators, the attorney’s office said. He received a fee of up to $42,000 for each container that was successfully imported into the United States. If a container was seized by law enforcement, Abuhadba was sometimes responsible for a portion of the costs of the goods in the seized container, said the attorney’s office.
CBP seized several containers of counterfeit goods during the investigation, the attorney’s office said. In late 2008, CBP seized one container destined for Abuhadba at the Port of L.A./Long Beach that contained over 10,000 pairs of counterfeit Nike Air Force One sneakers, worth $1.5 million at retail. Following the seizure, Abuhadba encouraged his Chinese conspirator to send false letters to CBP saying the seized containers were delivered by mistake and not intended for Abuhadba, the attorney’s office said.