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Aref Abuhadba, 49, who authorities said also lived in Totowa and operated out of Paterson was scheduled to appear in federal court in Newark this afternoon.
According to a series of e-mails reviewed by law enforcement during the investigation, Abuhadba and a group of co-conspirators imported at least 70 shipping containers of counterfeit Nike sneakers and Walt Disney products from the People’s Republic of China, thanks to a middleman, U.S. Attorney Paul S. Fishman said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized several containers that contained counterfeit Nike sneakers and Walt Disney-brand comforters and blankets worth millions in late 2008, Fishman said.
Another shipment, seized at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport in Long Beach, Calif., contained more than 10,000 pairs of counterfeit Nike Air Force One sneakers that would have fetched $1.5 million on the retail market, he said.
Following the seizures, Abuhadba exchanged several emails with a co-conspirator in the People’s Republic of China who acted as a middleman, an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The co-conspirator apparently is cooperating with authorities investigating the ring.
In the emails, Abuhadba “encouraged the co-conspirator to send false letters” to Chinese officials saying the seized containers “were mis-delivered and were not intended for Abuhadba.”
Abuhadba “was also responsible for collecting money from customers and wiring the proceeds of the scheme to the PRC co-conspirator and elsewhere,” according to the FBI complaint.
“For his participation, Abuhadba received a fee of up to $42,000 for each container that was successfully imported into the United States,” the complaint says. “If a container was seized by law enforcement, however, Abuhadba was sometimes responsible for a portion of the costs of the goods in the seized container.”
Abuhadba knew that authorities were on to him: On Nov. 3, 2011, he accompanied a witness testifying before a federal grand jury in Newark that was investigating him, the FBI said.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation and thanked officers of Customs and Border Protection for their role. Prosecuting the case are Assistant U.S. Attorney Gurbir S. Grewal of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Cheryl Cucinello of the Office’s General Crimes Unit.
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