Eight people charged in counterfeit goods investigation at Pacific Mall

Police have charged eight people in connection with a year-long investigation that led to the seizure of thousands of allegedly counterfeit items from a mall north of Toronto.

York Regional Police say the charges stem from an investigation launched in April 2018, following complaints that fake goods were being sold at the mall in Markham, Ont.

In June, more than 30 police officers executed search warrants at seven businesses within the mall and seized thousands of suspected counterfeit items, including clothing, handbags and cellphone accessories. Police also searched the home of one of the business owners where they collected more merchandise and cash.

Two months later, investigators travelled to New York City to meet with brand representatives from Chanel, Dior, Adidas, MCM, Louis Vuitton, Supreme, Givenchy, Cartier and others to confirm the seized goods were fake.

York Regional Police thanked the New York Police Department, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Canada Border Services Agency for assisting in the investigation.

As a result of the probe, police said they have charged Jing Sun, 55, of Markham; Siwen Sun, 29, of Markham; Dan Chen, 34, of Aurora, Ont.; Yue Qin, 29, of Ajax, Ont.; Xie Min Wu, 55, of Toronto; Jie Ni Lai, 39, of Toronto, and Yi Long, 31, of Toronto with knowingly or recklessly making a false representation to the public that is false or misleading in a material aspect and selling or offering for sale or distributing on a commercial scale any goods associated with a trade mark.

Another woman, Xiaoting Du, 32, of Markham, has been charged with those same offences along with a third charge of possessing the proceeds of crime.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

In 2018, the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative called Pacific Mall one of the world’s most “notorious” sources of pirated or counterfeit goods.

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