Article: washingtonpost.com
Comments about the article: Virginia Men Face U.S. Trial In Peddling of Phony Purses
Comments about the article: Virginia Men Face U.S. Trial In Peddling of Phony Purses
Virginia Men Face U.S. Trial In Peddling of Phony Purses
- Thread starter BlkLadyLaw
- Start date
I couldnt access the article but I could see the comments & this one below in blue script really made me mad, how can anyone justify ripping off designer items or what right does anyone have to rip off these designs for their own gain, it is theft after all! This person is making out the counterfeiters to have skill & ability 
I would remind them that not all designer bags fans are stuck up & rich, they just earn an honest living which the counterfeiters do not!! Entrepeneurs????? try thieves!!!
Here is a case where a silk purse can be made from a sows ear, and no one can tell the difference. Why should people pay outrageous prices for a name brand? Yeah, Gucci, Prada and et.al., are rolling in the dough, but this article just proves anyone with some skill and ability can make a purse just as good that no one can tell the difference between the trade mark brand and the cheapo and whoever buys them saves a heck of a lot money. I believe only the stuck up rich are pointing their noses up in the air at this[RE: ...one partygoer in Northern Virginia... . With the minimum wage the way it is the average worker should be allowed to buy and flaunt a fake expensive tote. Let the Feds chase real crooks and leave these entrepeneurs alone.
I would remind them that not all designer bags fans are stuck up & rich, they just earn an honest living which the counterfeiters do not!! Entrepeneurs????? try thieves!!!Here is a case where a silk purse can be made from a sows ear, and no one can tell the difference. Why should people pay outrageous prices for a name brand? Yeah, Gucci, Prada and et.al., are rolling in the dough, but this article just proves anyone with some skill and ability can make a purse just as good that no one can tell the difference between the trade mark brand and the cheapo and whoever buys them saves a heck of a lot money. I believe only the stuck up rich are pointing their noses up in the air at this[RE: ...one partygoer in Northern Virginia... . With the minimum wage the way it is the average worker should be allowed to buy and flaunt a fake expensive tote. Let the Feds chase real crooks and leave these entrepeneurs alone.
I couldnt access the article but I could see the comments & this one below in blue script really made me mad, how can anyone justify ripping off designer items or what right does anyone have to rip off these designs for their own gain, it is theft after all! This person is making out the counterfeiters to have skill & ability
Here is a case where a silk purse can be made from a sows ear, and no one can tell the difference. Why should people pay outrageous prices for a name brand? Yeah, Gucci, Prada and et.al., are rolling in the dough, but this article just proves anyone with some skill and ability can make a purse just as good that no one can tell the difference between the trade mark brand and the cheapo and whoever buys them saves a heck of a lot money. I believe only the stuck up rich are pointing their noses up in the air at this[RE: ...one partygoer in Northern Virginia... . With the minimum wage the way it is the average worker should be allowed to buy and flaunt a fake expensive tote. Let the Feds chase real crooks and leave these entrepeneurs alone.
Hon, ITA. Makes me queasy when reading that comment from that nutso!!
Virginia Men Face U.S. Trial In Peddling of Phony Purses
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 30, 2007; Page A01
They are known as "purse parties," modern-day Tupperware parties with a twist: hundreds of designer handbags selling for hundreds of dollars off. Women known as "the purse ladies" run the gatherings at private homes.
"They were all the rage," said Peggy Stypula, an Alexandria resident who attended parties in Arlington and Fairfax counties. "The purses were spread out all over the house, and you walked around and picked out what you wanted."
But one partygoer in Northern Virginia suspected counterfeit couture and called police. Federal agents soon seized 30,000 purses from a Fairfax warehouse, including some from a tractor-trailer that pulled up during the search.
Now, prosecutors are taking to federal court the men they say provided phony merchandise. A father and son are scheduled to go on trial tomorrow in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, accused of supplying thousands of counterfeit handbags for the purse parties and also selling them at kiosks in malls throughout the Washington region, including Tysons Corner Center, Montgomery Mall and the Old Post Office Pavilion.
The trial in one of the nation's largest counterfeiting prosecutions will feature testimony from representatives of Gucci, Kate Spade and other leading designer labels, according to court documents. Exhibit A will be a sampling of hundreds of purses, hauled into the courtroom one box at a time.
The case is bringing scrutiny to a widespread problem that has been publicly visible for years: trafficking in handbags and other counterfeit goods. Shoppers in Washington and other major cities can find fake fancy designer purses on street vendor carts, but purse parties -- though perhaps more underground with the heightened law enforcement attention -- are still held in the suburbs.
Lalit Kumar Ohri, 63, and his son Gaurav Ohri, 29, are charged with conspiracy and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Prosecutors say the pair sold purses bearing the trademarks of at least nine leading designer labels, including Louis Vuitton, Prada and Burberry. The pair allegedly had the purses embossed with trademark-infringing labels or gave the labels to purchasers. Some purchasers reportedly affixed the labels with glue.
The U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria would not comment. Nina Ginsburg, an attorney for the Ohris, would say only that they deny knowingly selling counterfeit handbags.
Experts say the problem of trafficking in counterfeit goods has mushroomed in recent years with globalization and the lowering of trade barriers. Everything from medicine to car parts is counterfeited, according to the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, a District-based industry group.
Among the leading fake items are designer handbags, known as knockoffs. "They're easy to counterfeit, they're small and they come in big containers from China," said Barbara Kolsun, senior vice president and general counsel of 7 For All Mankind and a former top official at Kate Spade.
She said selling the knockoffs "is stealing. You're stealing the name. It's no different than walking into a store and stealing a Kate Spade handbag off the shelves."
Even though it is a crime to sell such trademarked goods -- although not to purchase them -- enforcement is spotty, law enforcement officials said. Police have higher priorities, and federal prosecutors take only the biggest cases, so street vendors' booths and mall kiosks where knockoffs are sold often slip by.
Travis Johnson said he walks by sidewalk vendors selling counterfeit handbags every day on his way to work -- at the anti-counterfeiting coalition -- on K Street between Connecticut Avenue and 18th Street NW. "There's a perception that big, wealthy companies can put up with a few knockoffs," said Johnson, the coalition's general counsel. "It's not really seen as doing major harm."
Purse parties began in New York City 10 to 15 years ago and gradually spread, experts say. Some are advertised in the suburbs through mass e-mailings. Many who attend them believe they are getting either a good fake or stolen property, according to experts on counterfeiting.
The parties that Stypula attended in 2005 were elaborate open houses, with free wine and tables of shrimp dip, casseroles and a variety of appetizers. The woman who ran the Arlington party had made a business out of it, and her husband had even quit a lucrative job to work with her, Stypula said.
Stypula said that competition for the best bags was fierce and that she clung to the two Prada knockoffs she wanted so no one would grab them away. She and several friends chatted at the party about whether something was amiss.
"I said why would her husband quit his job when this is such a phony business and people could theoretically go down for selling knockoffs," Stypula said. "I know you can't get a Prada bag for $40 or $45, so you know these are hot from somewhere."
In fact, handbags by Prada and some other designer labels, including Gucci, sell for anywhere from hundreds of dollars to more than $2,000 each.
The parties apparently have grown less frequent in Northern Virginia as word has spread about the Ohri case.
After an anonymous tip from a purse partygoer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided one of the homes in 2003 and then found the trove of purses at the Ohris' warehouse in Lorton. It took more than 10 agents, working full time, a month to count and catalogue the merchandise.
Agents also found more than 100 phony Kate Spade labels in a desk drawer at the warehouse, court documents say.
The Ohris, of Fairfax, were indicted last year. They could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Lalit Ohri is a retired lieutenant colonel in the army of India who started his business, now called Sonya Handbags, in the early 1990s by selling leather goods at Eastern Market in the District, Ginsburg said. As business grew, he expanded to malls, and by 2003, there were kiosks operating under the name Sonya Handbags in 13 malls in Virginia, Maryland and the District, including Fair Oaks Shopping Center in Fairfax and Columbia Mall.
Court documents say the Ohris were told by some malls to stop selling counterfeit goods but ignored the warnings. But Suzette Timme, general manager of the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, where the family operated two kiosks, said mall security never noticed any problem.
"They were just selling generic bags with no labels," Timme said.
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 30, 2007; Page A01
They are known as "purse parties," modern-day Tupperware parties with a twist: hundreds of designer handbags selling for hundreds of dollars off. Women known as "the purse ladies" run the gatherings at private homes.
"They were all the rage," said Peggy Stypula, an Alexandria resident who attended parties in Arlington and Fairfax counties. "The purses were spread out all over the house, and you walked around and picked out what you wanted."
But one partygoer in Northern Virginia suspected counterfeit couture and called police. Federal agents soon seized 30,000 purses from a Fairfax warehouse, including some from a tractor-trailer that pulled up during the search.
Now, prosecutors are taking to federal court the men they say provided phony merchandise. A father and son are scheduled to go on trial tomorrow in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, accused of supplying thousands of counterfeit handbags for the purse parties and also selling them at kiosks in malls throughout the Washington region, including Tysons Corner Center, Montgomery Mall and the Old Post Office Pavilion.
The trial in one of the nation's largest counterfeiting prosecutions will feature testimony from representatives of Gucci, Kate Spade and other leading designer labels, according to court documents. Exhibit A will be a sampling of hundreds of purses, hauled into the courtroom one box at a time.
The case is bringing scrutiny to a widespread problem that has been publicly visible for years: trafficking in handbags and other counterfeit goods. Shoppers in Washington and other major cities can find fake fancy designer purses on street vendor carts, but purse parties -- though perhaps more underground with the heightened law enforcement attention -- are still held in the suburbs.
Lalit Kumar Ohri, 63, and his son Gaurav Ohri, 29, are charged with conspiracy and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Prosecutors say the pair sold purses bearing the trademarks of at least nine leading designer labels, including Louis Vuitton, Prada and Burberry. The pair allegedly had the purses embossed with trademark-infringing labels or gave the labels to purchasers. Some purchasers reportedly affixed the labels with glue.
The U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria would not comment. Nina Ginsburg, an attorney for the Ohris, would say only that they deny knowingly selling counterfeit handbags.
Experts say the problem of trafficking in counterfeit goods has mushroomed in recent years with globalization and the lowering of trade barriers. Everything from medicine to car parts is counterfeited, according to the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, a District-based industry group.
Among the leading fake items are designer handbags, known as knockoffs. "They're easy to counterfeit, they're small and they come in big containers from China," said Barbara Kolsun, senior vice president and general counsel of 7 For All Mankind and a former top official at Kate Spade.
She said selling the knockoffs "is stealing. You're stealing the name. It's no different than walking into a store and stealing a Kate Spade handbag off the shelves."
Even though it is a crime to sell such trademarked goods -- although not to purchase them -- enforcement is spotty, law enforcement officials said. Police have higher priorities, and federal prosecutors take only the biggest cases, so street vendors' booths and mall kiosks where knockoffs are sold often slip by.
Travis Johnson said he walks by sidewalk vendors selling counterfeit handbags every day on his way to work -- at the anti-counterfeiting coalition -- on K Street between Connecticut Avenue and 18th Street NW. "There's a perception that big, wealthy companies can put up with a few knockoffs," said Johnson, the coalition's general counsel. "It's not really seen as doing major harm."
Purse parties began in New York City 10 to 15 years ago and gradually spread, experts say. Some are advertised in the suburbs through mass e-mailings. Many who attend them believe they are getting either a good fake or stolen property, according to experts on counterfeiting.
The parties that Stypula attended in 2005 were elaborate open houses, with free wine and tables of shrimp dip, casseroles and a variety of appetizers. The woman who ran the Arlington party had made a business out of it, and her husband had even quit a lucrative job to work with her, Stypula said.
Stypula said that competition for the best bags was fierce and that she clung to the two Prada knockoffs she wanted so no one would grab them away. She and several friends chatted at the party about whether something was amiss.
"I said why would her husband quit his job when this is such a phony business and people could theoretically go down for selling knockoffs," Stypula said. "I know you can't get a Prada bag for $40 or $45, so you know these are hot from somewhere."
In fact, handbags by Prada and some other designer labels, including Gucci, sell for anywhere from hundreds of dollars to more than $2,000 each.
The parties apparently have grown less frequent in Northern Virginia as word has spread about the Ohri case.
After an anonymous tip from a purse partygoer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided one of the homes in 2003 and then found the trove of purses at the Ohris' warehouse in Lorton. It took more than 10 agents, working full time, a month to count and catalogue the merchandise.
Agents also found more than 100 phony Kate Spade labels in a desk drawer at the warehouse, court documents say.
The Ohris, of Fairfax, were indicted last year. They could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Lalit Ohri is a retired lieutenant colonel in the army of India who started his business, now called Sonya Handbags, in the early 1990s by selling leather goods at Eastern Market in the District, Ginsburg said. As business grew, he expanded to malls, and by 2003, there were kiosks operating under the name Sonya Handbags in 13 malls in Virginia, Maryland and the District, including Fair Oaks Shopping Center in Fairfax and Columbia Mall.
Court documents say the Ohris were told by some malls to stop selling counterfeit goods but ignored the warnings. But Suzette Timme, general manager of the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, where the family operated two kiosks, said mall security never noticed any problem.
"They were just selling generic bags with no labels," Timme said.
Here's a thread about that article when it first ran last week...
http://forum.purseblog.com/handbags...ing-phony-89893.html?highlight=peddling+sonya
http://forum.purseblog.com/handbags...ing-phony-89893.html?highlight=peddling+sonya
I'm against fake bags as anybody else here but what worries me more than the fake bags are the fake medicine and drugs because this can cause seriously health damage and a lot of times the buyer doesn't even know if their medicine isn't real because you have to trust your pharmacist.
A couple of months ago the custom workers secured containers with fake meds in the Hamburg harbour and they said that this is just the tip of the ice berg and those meds go to online pharmacies and wholesale pharmacies and IMO that care the sh... out of me.
A couple of months ago the custom workers secured containers with fake meds in the Hamburg harbour and they said that this is just the tip of the ice berg and those meds go to online pharmacies and wholesale pharmacies and IMO that care the sh... out of me.
I'd be interested in seeing how this trial affects how fake handbag sellers are dealt with. I cant stand seeing so many cheap fakes on the street, being sold and carried! 
its not only the rich who are angry or who are able to flaunt designer handbags, and to characterize this as a battle of the classes is just wrong! luxury goods may be exclusive, but that doesn't give people the right to violate copyright laws and scam consumers who may not know they are buying a fake!
its not only the rich who are angry or who are able to flaunt designer handbags, and to characterize this as a battle of the classes is just wrong! luxury goods may be exclusive, but that doesn't give people the right to violate copyright laws and scam consumers who may not know they are buying a fake!
I noticed most of the comments were allong the lines of "they should go after the REAL criminals." Do people really think there is a 'big bad guy' sitting in an office who runs every national crime?? I'll just come out and say it; People who buy fakes are just stupid, so they're obviously at the bottom of the criminal ladder... but who's to say who does what up the chain? I'm sure at least some of that money made goes into drugs, organized crime, human smuggling, etc right here in the good old US of A.
How you doin LadyLaw? I get Wash Post and was horrified when I read this!
I'm strictly an entertainment only newspaper reader since I get my storied online mostly, my DH saw it first & passed it over at the breakfast table. Truth is, I've gotten these invites!! I used to walk around one of my first offices, tsk'ing at co-workers (well over 6 figure gals) flaunting their knock-offs from these parties. Me, making muuuuuuhuuuuch less, I would never stoop!
I was lucky because I used all my modeling work to pay for beuaty expenses like hair and purses, but when I wasn't doing them I simply bought no-name quality leathers. Imagine supporting an industry of counterfeighters just to wear a cheesy Kate Spade bag!!
I'm strictly an entertainment only newspaper reader since I get my storied online mostly, my DH saw it first & passed it over at the breakfast table. Truth is, I've gotten these invites!! I used to walk around one of my first offices, tsk'ing at co-workers (well over 6 figure gals) flaunting their knock-offs from these parties. Me, making muuuuuuhuuuuch less, I would never stoop!
I was lucky because I used all my modeling work to pay for beuaty expenses like hair and purses, but when I wasn't doing them I simply bought no-name quality leathers. Imagine supporting an industry of counterfeighters just to wear a cheesy Kate Spade bag!!