NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Federal authorities announced the largest counterfeit goods bust in U.S. history on Wednesday, saying they arrested two men who had more than $1 billion in knockoff luxury items stored at Manhattan storage units.
In total, 219,000 counterfeit bags, clothes, shoes and other fake luxury merchandise were seized. The merchandise has a suggested retail value of $1.03 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The seizures announced today consist of merchandise with over $1 billion in estimated retail value, the largest-ever seizure of counterfeit goods in U.S. history,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.
The two men suspected of running the opreation—Adama Sow, 38, of Queens, and Abdulai Jalloh, 48, of Manhattan—allegedly used units at a Hell’s Kitchen storage facility as a distribution center for massive amounts of knock-off designer goods. Jalloh also used an offsite location in Manhattan, according to a federal complaint.
Both men are charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Over 83,000 counterfeit goods valued at more than $502 million were seized from a premises controlled by Sow, federal authorities said. And over 50,000 knockoffs valued at more than $237 million were allegedly seized from a premises controlled by Jalloh.
Photos released by prosecutors show shelves stacked with counterfeit wallets and bags in one location and handbags hanging from hooks from floor to ceiling in another.
The large-scale operation was allegedly run from January 2023 until late October 2023, when the goods were seized.
Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD conducted the bust. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also thanked management of the storage facility for their cooperation as the seizures were executed.