ATLANTA - Myong Shin "Michael" Yi, 50, of Suwanee was sentenced today by United States District Judge Julie Carnes to serve three months in federal prison along with ordered restitution of $6,056 on charges of trafficking in goods bearing counterfeit trademarks.
Yi was sentenced to three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $6,056. Yi was convicted of the charges on May 25, 2010 upon his plea of guilty to a Criminal Information.
According to United States Attorney Sally Yates, Yi operated a clothing business known as DMX Apparel at 3223 Oakcliff Industrial Street in Doraville. From this storefront, Yi sold legitimate goods, but he maintained a warehouse nearby where he stored and sold in large quantities knockoff jeans, shirts and shoes bearing trademarked designer and sports logos. The rightsholders whose trademarks YI infringed included Nike, BAPE, LRG, Lacoste, the National Football League, Collegiate Licensing Co., Evisu and Red Monkey, among others.
ICE agents searched the store and warehouse and found over 5,000 counterfeit items. Yi admitted that he bought his merchandise from a larger wholesaler in Atlanta and sold the knockoff goods to other store operators around the Southeast. Yi's sentence was reduced to reflect his cooperation against others involved in trafficking counterfeit goods. In a related case, five defendants were charged and approximately $30 million in counterfeit goods were seized. The $30 million seizure is one of the largest criminal trademark prosecutions ever brought in this District.
Sunday
May 19th, 2024
6:36AM
