A judge in Brooklyn federal court handed down a sentence of 30 months in prison to Su Ming Ling, 50, for smuggling fake Nikes, UGGs and NFL jerseys on Friday.
The former Middle Village resident will also have to pay $12,905 in restitution for his role in importing and transporting fraudulent goods in more than 200 shipping containers from China from May 2013 to to January 2017.
Ling was arrested in California in October and the goods, if sold, would have retailed at around $297 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“With today’s sentence, Ling has been held responsible for illegally importing millions of dollars worth of knockoff goods that displace consumer demand for companies’ genuine products,” U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said. “This office is committed to prosecuting counterfeit traffickers like the defendant whose criminal conduct causes harm to the American economy.”
Ling used aliases to create domain names and email addresses online that resembled those of American businesses and hired certified customs brokers to file entry forms on behalf of those companies, the DOJ said.
Ling provided the brokers with falsified shipping documents as well, the court said.
“These seizures by U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided the critical link to an ongoing investigation that resulted in the takedown of an elaborate criminal enterprise,” CBP Director Troy Miller said. “It is through our interagency partnerships and collaborative approaches like the one leading to today’s sentence, that saw enforcement successfully combats modern criminal organizations.”
The goods within the 211 containers that were distributed throughout Queens, Brooklyn and New Jersey.
