Businessman avoids jail over fake toys
THE DIRECTOR of a firm that imported, sold and stored more than £1 million worth of counterfeit toys has been given a two-year jail term, suspended for two years.
Company Amazing Savings Ltd (ASL) and its director Jonathan “Jonny” Kahn, 64, of Golders Green, London, had denied peddling tens of thousands of fake Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and other branded toys to high-street shops.
In what is thought to be one of the biggest Trading Standards cases in the United Kingdom, Mr Kahn, a fatherof-12, and his firm were found guilty of 34 trade-mark offences by jurors at Preston Crown Court. He was disqualified from being a company director for four years and must also do 300 hours of unpaid work — the maximum under the law.
The court heard that Kahn’s company sold thousands of fake toys, including 14,096 counterfeit turtle figures in 2015 and 42,996 fake Spiderman figures between 2014 and 2015.
Members of Kahn’s family, who sat in the public gallery holding copies of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, were visibly upset as Judge Stuart Baker delivered the sentence, telling Kahn: “The offences involved importing and either selling or storing some 265,000 toys at a total sale price to your customers of over £1.5m.”
He added: “I am unable to accept you honestly believed the toys which you supplied or continued to hold in storage were in fact genuine toys.”
Judge Baker said he felt able to suspend the sentence due to Kahn’s good character, long period of honest and reputable trading, and the fact it was probable he will face financial ruin as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Act inquiry which will take place on October 19.
The alleged offences came to light during a probe by Blackpool Council’s trading standards department after a tip-off that counterfeit turtle figures were on sale at a store in the town.
Defending, Daniel Thomas said for his client, who has over 40 years’ experience in business, “this was a new endeavour that went very badly wrong. Mr Thomas added: “He accepts he should have done more. He accepts the jury’s verdict.”