NEWARK – A Chinese national residing in the US on a student visa was sentenced to 37 months in prison for scheming to traffic and smuggle counterfeit Apple products from China into the US, federal and state officials announced.
Jianhua “Jeff” Li, 44, previously pleaded guilty before US District Judge Kevin McNulty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and labels and smuggle goods into the United States and one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods.
Li was sentenced July 30 in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, from July 2009 to February 2014, Li conspired with Andreina Becerra, Roberto Volpe, Rosario LaMarca, and others to smuggle and traffic more than 40,000 electronic devices and accessories into the US through his company Dream Digitals. These electronic devices included iPads and iPhones, along with labels and packaging bearing counterfeit Apple trademarks
According to officials, Li shipped the devices separately from the labels to avoid detection by US Customs and Border Protection officials. The devices were then shipped to conspirators all over the country. The proceeds were funneled back to conspirator accounts in Florida and New Jersey via structured cash deposits and then a portion was transferred to conspirators in Italy, further disguising the source of the funds.
Over $1.1 million in proceeds were wired from US accounts into accounts Li controlled overseas.
Li was sentenced to 37 months in prison as well as one year of supervised release.
LaMarca, Becerra, and Volpe previously pleaded guilty to their respective roles in the scheme. LaMarca was sentenced July 21, 2017, to 37 months in prison. Becerra and Volpe were sentenced Oct. 15, 2018, to three years’ probation and 22 months in prison, respectively.
