A New York Metropolis man who ran a scheme that bought $20 million value of substandard counterfeit Chinese language-made clothes and kit to the U.S. navy — doubtlessly placing active-duty service members in peril — has been sentenced to greater than three years in jail, federal prosecutors mentioned.
Ramin Kohanbash, 52, was one in every of three individuals who performed a task within the rip-off by which samples of real navy attire, together with labels that depicted logos of 15 firms that make merchandise for the U.S. navy, had been offered to producers in China, based on an announcement from the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Windfall.
The Chinese language producers counterfeited the garments, which had been shipped to Kohanbash for distribution to suppliers that bought them to the U.S. authorities as American-made, authorities mentioned. U.S. regulation requires that uniforms and kit bought to the Protection Division be produced in the USA or sure different designated international locations. China will not be amongst them.
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“American servicemen and girls danger their lives on daily basis in protection of the nation,” mentioned U.S. Lawyer for Rhode Island Zachary Cunha. “However the dangers they face ought to by no means come from the uniforms they put on, and the tools they carry. On this case, defendants’ actions did precisely that, substituting substandard, foreign-made knockoffs for American merchandise.”
The gear that Ramin Kohanbash, 52, was promoting to the U.S. Army was doubtlessly life-threatening, as faulty tools on the battlefield can simply price a soldier their life.
Some gear lacked essential security options or failed to satisfy security specs, prosecutors mentioned. That included greater than 13,000 counterfeit jackets that had been purported to be product of a cloth that made them troublesome to detect with evening imaginative and prescient goggles, however weren’t; and greater than 18,000 hoods falsely labeled as being flame resistant, authorities mentioned.
“Supplying counterfeit merchandise to the DoD endangers the lives of American service members and betrays the general public’s belief,” mentioned Patrick J. Hegarty, Particular Agent in Cost of the Protection Felony Investigative Service’s Northeast Discipline Workplace.
Kohanbash pleaded responsible in 2019 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and trafficking in counterfeit items.
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Kohanbash, of Brooklyn, along with a jail time period of three years and 4 months, was additionally ordered in U.S. District Court docket in Windfall on Wednesday to pay restitution to U.S. firms, together with a Rhode Island firm that reported a lack of greater than $639,000 in income.
Two different males concerned within the scheme have additionally pleaded responsible. Bernard Klein, 41, of Brooklyn, was sentenced in April 2021 to 18 months in jail. Terry Roe, 49, of Burlington, North Dakota, pleaded responsible in February and faces sentencing this month.