Largest-ever counterfeit goods seizure in US history made in NYC

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced Wednesday (November 15) the largest-ever counterfeit goods seizure in U.S. history and the arrest of two individuals charged with trafficking in goods.

The New York field office of Homeland Security Investigations and New York City Police Department seized approximately 219,000 counterfeit bags, clothes, shoes, and other luxury products with a total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of approximately $1.03 billion, according to Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Adama Sow, 38, of Queens, New York, and Abdulai Jalloh, a/k/a Troy Banks, 48, of New York, New York, are charged with trafficking in goods. The two defendants were arrested Wednesday morning.

According to allegations in the indictments, Sow and Jalloh ran a large-scale counterfeit goods trafficking operations out of a storage facility located in Manhattan. Jalloh also trafficked counterfeit goods out of an offsite location in Manhattan.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

(Production: Christine Kiernan)