Importer Faces 20 Years in Prison for Alleged Importer Identity Theft and Counterfeit Smuggling Scheme

A former New York resident was arrested and charged with smuggling and conspiracy for an alleged scheme to import some $250 million in counterfeit footwear and apparel by way of importer identity theft, the Justice Department said in a press release. Su Ming Ling purportedly provided stolen identities to five separate customs brokers in Illinois and California to bring in 200 shipping containers of counterfeit goods from China, DOJ said.

According to the complaint, Ling sent his brokers powers of attorney apparently signed by legitimate importers, as well as letters, some with misspelled company names and addresses, that purported to be from the Internal Revenue Service establishing the importers’ employer identification numbers. Ling also created email addresses bearing the names of the legitimate companies to contact the brokers. He then sent the brokers invoices and packing lists for his shipments that misidentified and undervalued the shipments he wanted entered, DOJ said.

When contacted by ICE agents, the companies said the signatures were forged, though the EINs listed on the falsified letters were the EINs the IRS had actually assigned to the companies. Importer victims of Ling’s alleged identity theft scheme included Billco International, Attaglass, MaxLite SK America, Goldstone Hosiery, Brabant Hitech and Innovative Industries. The five anonymous brokers that entered Ling's shipments are not identified as defendants by the complaint, which was unsealed on Sept. 1 following Ling’s arrest as he was about to board a flight bound for Taiwan.

The counterfeit goods, which were distributed to warehouses and storage facilities in New York and New Jersey, included purported Nike brand sneakers, UGG brand boots, National Football League-brand athletic jerseys, and True Religion brand jeans, DOJ said. ICE investigators uncovered the extent of the alleged scheme by examining registration records from the internet hosting company GoDaddy, where Ling registered many of the fake company domains using the same names and credit card numbers. ICE also conducted a “border search” of Ling’s two iPhones upon his arrival in the U.S. from a trip abroad in 2015, finding notes of names and email addresses that Ling kept in an apparent effort to keep track of his fraudulent identities, DOJ said.

“The charges in the complaint are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” DOJ said. If convicted, Ling faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for smuggling, and 10 years for conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods.