FAKE ’EM AWAY!
Cops’ $10M Canal St. counterfeit crackdown
Cops netted more than $10 million in “high-end” counterfeit goods Monday in a crackdown on illegal street vendors in lower Manhattan, police officials said.
The NYPD’s sweep of knockoff purses, sneakers and other illicit goods on Canal Street led to 17 total arrests, with the rogue vendors facing a top charge of trademark counterfeiting property over $1,000, a felony in the state, Chief of Patrol Jeff Maddrey said.
“The area of enforcement we went to today resembled a local street market,” the chief said at a press conference hours later.
“Sidewalks are blocked, there’s property everywhere, merchandise everywhere. This really impacts local businesses in a negative manner, as well as reduces the quality of life.
“We seized over three truckloads of merchandise.”
Maddrey said cops will begin to step up outreach throughout New York City on how to legally obtain vendor’s licenses as the holiday season approaches while reminding sellers that peddling counterfeit trade merch is still illegal.
“We recognize during the holidays, activities such as this will increase, and our efforts to deter this conduct, to investigate this conduct, will be ongoing,” he said.
Bill Friberg, a counterfeit recognition specialist and retired NYPD sergeant who accompanied the raid, told The Post that most of the goods were “poor quality” fakes from China or India.
Maddrey quipped as he palmed a phony Louis Vuitton bag, “I mean, listen. This looks good to me, but that’s why you have a specialist who comes and works with the company to tell us what’s good and what’s not.”