http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/counterfeit-condoms-and-a-new-arrangement/
New Yorkers long ago stopped being fooled by the luxury knockoffs peddled from sidewalk card tables at prices too good to be true. Not that they always keep their wallet in check — as a close inspection of many a supposedly pedigreed Louis Vuitton handbag might reveal, if the penny-pinching owner would allow it.
There are some counterfeit goods, though, where the close-enough counterfeit is far from an adequate substitution for the confidence of a brand-name product. Take a specific, alarming example: Trojan condoms.
Federal officials say that a counterfeit smuggling ring, ZX Trading, made millions selling imported Chinese knockoffs, including bags, clothes and sunglasses that bear brand names including Disney, Nike and North Face. But perhaps the most troubling discovery was of a stash of more than half a million fake Trojan brand condoms, which did not have spermicide as advertised and later failed water leakage tests.
A prosecutor for the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn called the fake condoms “a danger to the public.” A lawyer for Church & Dwight, which owns Trojan, warned that the condoms “may pose potential safety risks to consumers and users.”
Two siblings were scheduled to be sentenced on Friday in Brooklyn for their role in running the counterfeit-smuggling ring that federal officials say was responsible for importing the bogus condoms. The hearing was postponed because of a debate about the level of the siblings’ involvement in the condom situation.
The two, Lin F. Hu and Jian Lin Hu, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods last year, though they specifically did not admit to importing the condoms. A recent court filing on behalf of the siblings reiterated the denial, adding, “The mere fact that a product has a counterfeit brand name does not mean that it is dangerous.”
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison.
Counterfeit condoms have become a booming business in China in recent years. According to a report in The Times of London last year, the Chinese authorities reported that they had raided a workshop in Hunan Province where more than two million condoms had been made in unsterile conditions, lubricated with vegetable oil and falsely labeled with brand names like Durex and Rough Rider. – A. G. Sulzberger
New Policy for District Attorney
Tucked toward the end of a news release put out by the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Thursday was a short but significant note. It read that as per office policy, 10 percent of the proceeds from the deferred-prosecution agreement being announced would go to the state, 51 percent to the city and the remaining 39 percent to law enforcement authorities.
The new policy on how to divide money from these agreements represents a stark departure by Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, from his predecessor, Robert M. Morgenthau.
Toward the end of his 35-year tenure last year, Mr. Morgenthau got into a now famous spat with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg over the office’s finances — and Mr. Morgenthau said it centered on what his office did with money from these deferred-prosecution agreements (a company or individual agrees to certain conditions in order not to be prosecuted).
The mayor’s office accused Mr. Morgenthau’s office of keeping dozens of accounts outside the city’s financial review process by not registering them with the comptroller’s office. Mr. Morgenthau said that the concerns were just sour grapes and that Mr. Bloomberg was simply upset that the state received a larger share than the city of a $350 million settlement last year with the British bank Lloyds TSB Group.
The Bloomberg administration argued that it should get all the money from those deferred prosecution agreements, Mr. Morgenthau said. But he bluntly rebuffed them.
As Mr. Morgenthau was negotiating another huge settlement with a foreign bank, Credit Suisse, he supported legislation in Albany that called for the money deferred-prosecution agreements to be split 50-50 between the city and the state. The law passed, and the city and state had to split $268 million from the Credit Suisse settlement down the middle. But that law expired this year.
So, after the city’s comptroller completed an audit of the district attorney’s books this year, one recommendation was that Mr. Vance’s office set out a policy for dispersing the settlement proceeds. The result is the 10-51-39 split, not so surprising when you consider that Mr. Vance has clearly been trying to play a conciliatory role.
As expected, Mr. Vance’s policy drew applause from the mayor’s office.
“We are pleased that the district attorney has put a consistent formula for allocating funds in place,” Jason Post, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, wrote in an e-mail message. — John Eligon
out of all the things you would want to counterfeit.
New Yorkers long ago stopped being fooled by the luxury knockoffs peddled from sidewalk card tables at prices too good to be true. Not that they always keep their wallet in check — as a close inspection of many a supposedly pedigreed Louis Vuitton handbag might reveal, if the penny-pinching owner would allow it.
There are some counterfeit goods, though, where the close-enough counterfeit is far from an adequate substitution for the confidence of a brand-name product. Take a specific, alarming example: Trojan condoms.
Federal officials say that a counterfeit smuggling ring, ZX Trading, made millions selling imported Chinese knockoffs, including bags, clothes and sunglasses that bear brand names including Disney, Nike and North Face. But perhaps the most troubling discovery was of a stash of more than half a million fake Trojan brand condoms, which did not have spermicide as advertised and later failed water leakage tests.
A prosecutor for the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn called the fake condoms “a danger to the public.” A lawyer for Church & Dwight, which owns Trojan, warned that the condoms “may pose potential safety risks to consumers and users.”
Two siblings were scheduled to be sentenced on Friday in Brooklyn for their role in running the counterfeit-smuggling ring that federal officials say was responsible for importing the bogus condoms. The hearing was postponed because of a debate about the level of the siblings’ involvement in the condom situation.
The two, Lin F. Hu and Jian Lin Hu, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods last year, though they specifically did not admit to importing the condoms. A recent court filing on behalf of the siblings reiterated the denial, adding, “The mere fact that a product has a counterfeit brand name does not mean that it is dangerous.”
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison.
Counterfeit condoms have become a booming business in China in recent years. According to a report in The Times of London last year, the Chinese authorities reported that they had raided a workshop in Hunan Province where more than two million condoms had been made in unsterile conditions, lubricated with vegetable oil and falsely labeled with brand names like Durex and Rough Rider. – A. G. Sulzberger
New Policy for District Attorney
Tucked toward the end of a news release put out by the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Thursday was a short but significant note. It read that as per office policy, 10 percent of the proceeds from the deferred-prosecution agreement being announced would go to the state, 51 percent to the city and the remaining 39 percent to law enforcement authorities.
The new policy on how to divide money from these agreements represents a stark departure by Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, from his predecessor, Robert M. Morgenthau.
Toward the end of his 35-year tenure last year, Mr. Morgenthau got into a now famous spat with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg over the office’s finances — and Mr. Morgenthau said it centered on what his office did with money from these deferred-prosecution agreements (a company or individual agrees to certain conditions in order not to be prosecuted).
The mayor’s office accused Mr. Morgenthau’s office of keeping dozens of accounts outside the city’s financial review process by not registering them with the comptroller’s office. Mr. Morgenthau said that the concerns were just sour grapes and that Mr. Bloomberg was simply upset that the state received a larger share than the city of a $350 million settlement last year with the British bank Lloyds TSB Group.
The Bloomberg administration argued that it should get all the money from those deferred prosecution agreements, Mr. Morgenthau said. But he bluntly rebuffed them.
As Mr. Morgenthau was negotiating another huge settlement with a foreign bank, Credit Suisse, he supported legislation in Albany that called for the money deferred-prosecution agreements to be split 50-50 between the city and the state. The law passed, and the city and state had to split $268 million from the Credit Suisse settlement down the middle. But that law expired this year.
So, after the city’s comptroller completed an audit of the district attorney’s books this year, one recommendation was that Mr. Vance’s office set out a policy for dispersing the settlement proceeds. The result is the 10-51-39 split, not so surprising when you consider that Mr. Vance has clearly been trying to play a conciliatory role.
As expected, Mr. Vance’s policy drew applause from the mayor’s office.
“We are pleased that the district attorney has put a consistent formula for allocating funds in place,” Jason Post, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, wrote in an e-mail message. — John Eligon
out of all the things you would want to counterfeit.
