California Resident Sent to Prison for Conspiracy to Traffic Counterfeit Apple Products

Zhiwei "Allen" Liao was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $120,370 for his role in an "international conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit Apple products," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced March 25. He also was ordered to forfeit two residences and 200 Apple devices.

Zhiwei Liao, along with his brothers, Zhimin Liao and Zhiting Liao, led a scheme to import over 10,000 fake iPhones and iPads into the U.S. from China. The counterfeit items "looked genuine and included identification numbers (IMEI and serial numbers) matching identification numbers on real iPhones and iPads" under warranty that were previously sold in the U.S. and Canada. Various co-conspirators traveled across the U.S. and Canada and tried to exchange the counterfeit iPhones and iPads for genuine products, leading to a $6.1 million loss to Apple, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The genuine phones were then shipped to China "where they were sold at a premium." Zhiwei Liao directed the Apple products and the proceeds to be shipped via "different co-conspirators, companies, and family members throughout the scheme." The co-conspirators exchanged the goods using various fake names and email accounts. Zhiwei Liao's two brothers were sentenced to 41 months in prison in October.