Fashion District Merchants Banned, Fined $26M For Selling Counterfeit Goods
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Two downtown Los Angeles merchants have been banned from the Fashion District and assessed a $26 million penalty - which officials say is the largest such penalty on record - for selling counterfeit goods, city prosecutors announced Friday.
In a statement, City Attorney Mike Feuer said his office has secured a permanent injunction against merchants Sergio Huerta Falcon and Jonna Garcia, who operated T.J. Accessories, a clothing business located at 310 E. Olympic Avenue.
KNX 1070's Jon Baird reports Superior Court Judge Richard Rico prohibited Falcon and Garcia from returning to the Fashion District, specifically the area of 9th Street to the north, 16th Street to the south, San Pedro to the east and Broadway to the west.
Falcon and Garcia were previously convicted of selling counterfeit goods on five separate occasions and given nine cease and desist letters advising them to stop selling counterfeit goods, according to Feuer's office.
Undercover LAPD investigators in coordination with the FBI recovered nearly 10,500 counterfeit apparel and related items at a store operated by Falcon and Garcia, prosecutors said. They were assessed the maximum civil penalty of $2,500 for each of the counterfeit items recovered from that location, totaling $26,245,000 in fines.
"In this case, we secured the largest judgment in the history of the city on any counterfeiting claim," Feuer said.
Additional restrictions also prohibit Falcon and Garcia from operating any business in California related to the manufacture, sale or storage of goods commonly counterfeited including: clothing, related apparel, shoes, hats bags, electronics, pharmaceuticals or software.