A Canadian businessman who admitted bringing millions of dollars worth of phony designer handbags into the U.S. has been sentenced to two years in prison, U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced.
Wasseem Ramjaun, 48, of Vaughan, Ontario, just north of Toronto, also was ordered to pay $4,800,870 in restitution by Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny. He pleaded guilty in September to a federal charge of trafficking in counterfeit goods.
Prosecutors said Ramjaun, who operated importing and exporting businesses, set up his counterfeit goods scheme after agreeing to supply a customer with authentic Yeti, Vera Bradley and Lacoste items.
Ramjaun was not authorized to use their trademarks, prosecutors said, so he got a manufacturer in China to make identical copies of Vera Bradley handbags, even providing the maker with photographs and tags from genuine Vera Bradley bags.
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Prosecutors said that Ramjaun then brought the fake Vera Bradley bags into the U.S. through an unspecified port of entry in the Western District of New York between June 1 and June 8, 2017.
To conceal the fact that the bags were fakes, Ramjaun provided U.S. Customs and Border Protection with a fraudulent manufacturing agreement. Prosecutors said the goods represented a total value of $4,216,025.
Email danderson@buffnews.com.
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