BOISE – Artur Pupko, 28, of Boise, pleaded guilty in U.S.
District Court to trafficking in counterfeit goods, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis
and Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s
Criminal Division announced today. Sentencing for Pupko has been set for
December 17, 2019 before U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal
courthouse in Boise.
According to court records, Pupko conspired with others to
operate a multi-million dollar scheme wherein they sold counterfeit cellphones
and cellphone accessories on Amazon.com and eBay.com that were misrepresented
as new and genuine Apple and Samsung products. Using at least six different
corporate entities, Pupko smuggled counterfeit cellphones and cellphone
accessories in bulk from manufacturers in Hong Kong and China, repackaged the
products in the Treasure Valley, and then individually resold to consumers
online as genuine and new in order to deceive customers. Also as part of his
plea, Pupko admitted that, on three different occasions in October through
December 2017, his company sold counterfeit Apple and/or Samsung products to
law enforcement.
The charge of trafficking in counterfeit goods is punishable
by up to ten years in prison, a 5 million dollar fine, and a term of supervised
release of up to 3 years.
This case is the result of a coordinated investigation by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal
Investigations, and United States Postal Inspection Service. Senior Trial
Attorney Timothy Flowers with the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and
Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian Nafzger
and Katherine Horwitz prosecuted the case.
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