Counterfeiter Gets 57 Months

A U.S. district judge sentenced New York resident Abbas Chouman to 57 months in prison on one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. Chouman was ordered to forfeit the $7 million he received as the national distributor of counterfeit merchandise. Chouman pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in July and has been in federal custody ever since. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Chouman and six other defendants operated a wholesale clothing business in New York under several company names, including Gizmo Wear Inc., Tea Shirt Inc., T-Shirt International Inc. and Jump Wear. The company offered counterfeit branded merchandise at discounted prices at its New York store and through cash-on-delivery phone sales. Chouman is the fifth defendant in the case to be sentenced. In March, federal and state agents made arrests in four states as part of a multi-agency, multi-state federal enforcement operation aimed at traffickers in counterfeit and pirated goods.