LOS ANGELES — A federal judge sentenced a Rosemead businessman to more than two and a half years in prison Thursday for coordinating the importation of more than $2.3 million worth of counterfeit shoes, designer purses and sports jerseys through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, authorities said.
Kevin “Peter” Wang, 54, pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods in federal court in Los Angeles and received his 31-month prison sentenced from U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt. He was further sentenced to an additional six months of home detention and ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution and a $10,000 fine, U.S. Department of Justice officials said in a written statement.
“Wang helped Chinese exporters bring counterfeit goods — including fake Nike shoes, labeled as ‘garment hangers’; counterfeit Coach, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton handbags, labeled as ‘toilet paper’; and bogus NFL, NBA, and NHL jerseys — into the United States,” according to the DOJ statement. “From 2008 to 2012, the counterfeit goods were smuggled in shipping containers through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.”
Thursday’s sentencing was the second in recent weeks involving the importation of counterfeit goods, officials said.
Hamlet Ayvazyan, 37, of Glendale, received a one-year federal prison sentence on April 28 after also pleading guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods, DOJ officials said. He was also ordered to pay a $4,000 fine.
Through his businesses, Speedvision Motorsport in Glendale, Ayvazyan received shipments of, and sold, counterfeit automotive wheels falsely labeled as Mercedes-Benz logos, according to the DOJ statement. Investigators in 2012 seized more than 600 counterfeit wheels from Ayvazyan.
“Ayvazyan also kept 2,100 adhesive logos and wheel center caps that bore marks such as ‘Mercedes-Benz’ and ‘BMW,’” the statement said.
DOJ officials added that Ayvazyan paid about $100 for each wheel and sold them for $200, “which was substantially less than the manufacturer’s price for legitimate wheels, which was as much as $2,000.
