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Italian jailed for 37 months for smuggling fake Apple products from China
ITALIAN national Rosario La Marca, 54, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison, as well as one additional year of supervised release, for smuggling counterfeit Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods from China to sell in the United States, according to the US Justice Department.
La Marca pleaded guilty in February in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, to conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, smuggle them into the US, and structuring financial transactions to hide the behaviour.
According to the court, La Marca admitted during the plea that from July 2009 through February 2014 he and Andreina Becerra, 32, a Venezuelan national; Roberto Volpe, 35, an Italian national; and Jianhua Li, 42, conspired to smuggle more than 40,000 electronic devices and accessories with counterfeit Apple and Sony trademarks from China into the United States. The estimated manufacturer's retail prices for an equivalent number of genuine items would have exceeded US$15 million.
The devices were shipped separately from the labels bearing counterfeit trademarks to avoid detection by Customs and Border Protection. Once they passed through customs, the devices were then labelled and packaged, the Justice Department said.
"The defendants then re-shipped the devices to conspirators all over the US," the department explained. "Proceeds from the sales of the devices were funnelled back to the defendants' accounts in Florida and New Jersey via structured cash deposits - broken into multiple deposits of less than $10,000 each to avoid bank reporting requirements - and a portion of the proceeds was then transferred to conspirators in Italy, further disguising the source of the funds."
It's estimated that the defendants made more than 100 illegal wire transfers totaling more than $1.1 million to Hong Kong to support their criminal activity.
Volpe and Becerra have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Li has pleaded not guilty, according to American Shipper.
La Marca pleaded guilty in February in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, to conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, smuggle them into the US, and structuring financial transactions to hide the behaviour.
According to the court, La Marca admitted during the plea that from July 2009 through February 2014 he and Andreina Becerra, 32, a Venezuelan national; Roberto Volpe, 35, an Italian national; and Jianhua Li, 42, conspired to smuggle more than 40,000 electronic devices and accessories with counterfeit Apple and Sony trademarks from China into the United States. The estimated manufacturer's retail prices for an equivalent number of genuine items would have exceeded US$15 million.
The devices were shipped separately from the labels bearing counterfeit trademarks to avoid detection by Customs and Border Protection. Once they passed through customs, the devices were then labelled and packaged, the Justice Department said.
"The defendants then re-shipped the devices to conspirators all over the US," the department explained. "Proceeds from the sales of the devices were funnelled back to the defendants' accounts in Florida and New Jersey via structured cash deposits - broken into multiple deposits of less than $10,000 each to avoid bank reporting requirements - and a portion of the proceeds was then transferred to conspirators in Italy, further disguising the source of the funds."
It's estimated that the defendants made more than 100 illegal wire transfers totaling more than $1.1 million to Hong Kong to support their criminal activity.
Volpe and Becerra have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Li has pleaded not guilty, according to American Shipper.
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