In what emerges as a cautionary tale for those tempted by shortcuts in the technology trade, a Philadelphia couple has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for their roles in a counterfeit cell phone scheme. Yangwei Li, using a medley of aliases including Jason Lee and Ryan Li, along with his wife Yawen Huang, were also handed three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution, as stated in a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Caught in the act by United States Customs and Border Protection, the couple's shipments, en route to Philadelphia, New York, and Louisville, began to be intercepted back in July 2018. Without responding to Customs notices, destined to the addresses associated with Li and Huang, the intercepted packages contained counterfeit devices bearing marks from leading brands like Samsung and Apple, and even fake Underwriters Laboratories symbols, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office release.
The scale of this operation was not insignificant, as authorities seized 24 shipments, estimated around $350,000 had they been genuine. This two-year trafficking endeavor did not spur Li or Huang to heed multiple cease and desist letters from Samsung either, maintaining silence in the shadow of legal repercussions, the U.S. Attorney's Office detailed.
On April 2, 2021, the plot unraveled when law enforcement executed a search warrant at the couple's residence. They uncovered a hoard of knock-off tech gear: from iPhones and charging kits to Samsung headphones, all part of the substantial haul valued domestically at about $224,197. It appears that their six eBay sites, selling these counterfeit goods, were facilitated by found laptops, thumb drives, and cell phones in their home, which tied them directly to the illegal enterprise.
Their prosecution was a combined effort of Homeland Security Investigations with Assistant United States Attorneys Paul Shapiro and Ruth Mandelbaum at the helm.
