Oliver Haslam·

Chinese Counterfeiter Pleads Guilty To Selling $1.1M Worth Of Fake Apple Products In U.S.

A Chinese counterfeiter who took part in a scheme that included the trafficking and smuggling of fake products aping the iPhone and iPad has today pleaded guilty to multiple charges.

This news comes via a press release shared by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to the release, Jianhua “Jeff” Li, smuggled more than 40,000 fake iPhones, iPads, and accessories from China to the United States from 2009 to 2014, using the company name Dream Digitals. The product packaging for these devices included counterfeit Apple trademarks, something that did not help “Jeff'” at all.

Jianhua “Jeff” Li, 43, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Kevin McNulty of the District of New Jersey to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and labels and to smuggle goods into the United States, and one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods.  Li will be sentenced on May 30.

In order to get his counterfeit hardware into the United States, Li shipped the devices separately from the counterfeit trademarks, with the devices finding their way throughout the country. The proceeds from sales were then pushed into bank accounts hosted in New Jersey and Florida, according to the report, with Li raking in payments of more than $1.1 million from the two accounts.

Having pleaded guilty, Li now faces the prospect of a number of years in prison, with partner Rosario LaMarca having already been sentenced to 37 months in prison back in July of last year. Two others involved in the activities, Roberto Volpe and Andreina Becerra, are both awaiting sentencing. Li still has a few months to go before he finds out his own fate – a wait that we doubt he will be enjoying.

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