Los Angeles: Police along with investigative consultants and the Fashion District Security shut down a major counterfeiting operation in downtown Los Angeles.
During a two-day raid, authorities seized $18.4 million worth of counterfeit designer brand merchandise from two downtown locations. On May 23, 2006, police raided a swap meet located at 500 South Los Angeles Street and found fake Tiffany jewelry worth about $6.4 million and arrested two adults. On May 24, 2006, police also raided and seized 12 million worth of counterfeit handbags, clothes, sunglasses, shoes and wallets etc. from the Fashion District Santee Alley between 12th Street and Olympic Boulevard.
Most of the designer brand products were: Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Coach, Bebe, Oakley and Gucci.
Authorities have been investigating the operation for several months and wanted to combat the rampant illegal counterfeit that has grown rapidly in the downtown area.
Chul Kim, 46, and Angie Kim, 50, were both arrested and booked for willfully manufacturing, intentionally selling, or possessing for sale any counterfeit of a trademark registered with the Secretary of State or registered on the Principal Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Bail amount was set at $25,000 and $20,000 respectively.
If you have any questions regarding this incident, please call Media Relations Section at 213-485-3586.
So that explains all the "spam" we've been seeing of late about "designer replicas" and "simulated" Rolex watches, perchance?
Posted by: | June 01, 2025 at 01:22 PM
This is a perfect example of the LAPD's wrong-headed thinking. Knockoff handbags and sunglasses aren't a threat to public safety; there are civil remedies to deal with this problem. A friend of mine recently was punched in front of numerous witnesses on a public sidewalk. It took the LAPD over two hours to show up. Louis Vuitton and Prada have civil remedies to deal with copyright violations. This is a perfect example of corporate big bucks getting all of Parker Center's attention, while LA taxpayers and citizens are treated like an afterthought. I wouldn't be surprised if Gadfly Bratton wasn't wined and dined by the the likes of Prada and Gucci who got his personal ear. Try getting that kind of attention if you're Joe Taxpayer. Maybe if you hang out at LAX you'll be lucky to get a glimpse of our Gadfly in Chief and a few seconds of face-time before he jets off to yet another exotic international locale on the taxpayers' dime.
Posted by: Wayne | June 01, 2025 at 01:28 PM
Ouch, Wayne. You've taken cynical to a new level with that theory. Crime is crime. I'm just surprised the police haven't raided Santee Alley sooner.
Posted by: Adam | June 01, 2025 at 07:10 PM
crime is crime? if i go 5 miles over the speed limit it's the same as killing someone?
this bust was truly of a waste of everyone's time and money.
Posted by: Greg | June 02, 2025 at 02:59 PM
Wayne has an excellent point. He's right on the money.
My son-in-law was mugged near LACMA. He called the police and they never showed up. When he called them again two hours later, they told him to come into a police station to file a report, because they weren't coming to the scene.
Crime is not crime, Adam. To use your "logic," a shoplifting crime should be given equal weight to homicide. It doesn't work that way in reality.
Celebrities and the elite are always given preferential treatment by the LAPD. The average citizen is all but ignored. And I'm tired too of hearing how under-resourced the police department is when Bratton is running all over the world on his junkets.
Posted by: Jack T. | June 03, 2025 at 08:53 AM
Wayne is 100% correct. I work downtown 6 days a week and I tell you that threat to public safety is heroin dealers who are gangs and criminals and they operate completely free of LAPD interference on 6th and Broadway. It amazes me how misallocated the LAPD resources are.
Posted by: Dave | June 04, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Adam said crime is crime, but he never said shoplifting is the same as a homicide. Different levels, people. Infractions, misdemenors, felonys. The LAPD doesn't ignore any type of crime (ie. counterfeiting) in favor of others (ie. narcotics/gangs). The LAPD has different units tasked to go after different types of crime, above and beyond patrol. Officers make arrests in Santee Alley all of the time, but just like the narcotics problems, more criminals take the place of those arrested. The LAPD needs more officers, period. New York has 40,000 officers compared to LAPD's 8000. They also need the communitys help and involvement to combat the problems, not just people who blame all of societys problems on the police.
Posted by: Marcus | June 06, 2025 at 06:34 AM
Wayne is understandbly upset by his opinion that resources are misallocated but the reality is that the real crime is that busts at Santee alley are what make the headlines. There are countless acts of heroism and bravery that are unreported on a daily basis yet the liberal LA Times doesn't write about that because it doesn't sell. There is more going on than what you read about in the paper.
The LAPD is extremely understaffed and statistics and even emperical evidence show this on a regular basis. Why do you think it takes so long for the police to get there? Modern theories in criminology have suggested that Bratton's approach to addressing smaller crimes to prevent larger crimes has been effective. It astounds me that some people who are bitter with the police ignore the department and Bratton's success and the decreasing crime rate. Officers have been aggresive in dealing with crime in a lawful and humane way despite the astronomical cost of the Consent decree, attrition and difficulty hiring qualified new officers.
Although there are a few bad officers the vast majority are extrodinary and we should be thankful to have such a phenomenal police force. New York has over 35000 and Chicago has over approximately 15000. The underdog LAPD does a great job considering the limited resources, lack of support and radical activists who depart from objectity and pitch for their own biased causes. Wake up people. The police are only one component to a safer LA and they need the community and their support. If you dont support your police, dont be surprised when crime rises and you have some of the greatest police officers in the world departing for higher paying law enforcement jobs where the community supports them.
Posted by: taxpayer | June 06, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Marcus, you defeat your own arguments. If the LAPD is so shorthanded, then they shouldn't be wasting valuable resources and personnel on bozos selling knockoff purses and tote bags. Wayne and the others are right. There are already civil remedies to stop this. The LAPD shouldn't be wasting time on this pennyante stuff.
Posted by: Quinn | June 06, 2025 at 03:26 PM
Quinn,
First the comment is posted as taxpayer, not Marcus. Secondly, it is not a self defeated argument because it clearly states,"Modern theories in criminology suggest that Bratton's approach to addressing smaller crimes to prevent the larger crimes has been effective."
(That would include Santee alley).
The whole point is that police have to be innovative and address crime in a way that is effective. Many of the same criminals committing the smaller crimes are the same that are already committing other more serious crimes or will graduate to more egregious acts that will not be addressed in civil court.
Despite the arguments made, Quinn, you selectely addressed the issue of being short handed as being self defeating and not the fact that crime is down since Bratton began the "Broken Windows" approach to crime. Being short handed doesn't self defeat or address the argument that bias in the media and their failure to report the successes in addition to the contraversy. You don't address the fact that addressing crime is an issue requiring the community's support and participation. These arguments were hardly self defeated by me saying that the police are short handed. Perhaps when you learn to address the issues you may be worthy of debate.
Posted by: taxpayer | June 06, 2025 at 07:45 PM
Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. It doesn't matter what action is taken, you people always complain that something wasn't done right. This crime may not be as important as other crimes, but the police still need to act on it when brought to their attention. If you called them about a barking dog and they never showed up you would complain that the police weren't doing their job. Consider the loss of taxes due to counterfeit products (taxes that could go toward police equipment) and lost jobs that affect the community. Finally, if you bought one of those bags and found out it was a counterfeit, you would probably go to the police and request that something be done about it. Think about that the next time you call the police for something petty.
Posted by: Bill | June 07, 2025 at 08:15 AM
I agree with Wayne, Jack, Dave & Quinn. This is simply another case of the LAPD's poor allocation of police personnel and the wrong priorities. Violent criminals don't start out selling fake designer handbags. This police action was simply flat out wrong.
Sorry, Bill, the public has a perfect right to kvetch about how the police resources are expended. It's coming out of our pockets. If you don't like dissent, move to North Korea, where public response is zero. As well, there are civil means to deal with counterfeit goods which will protect taxes and jobs.
Crime stats are down overall for LA *except* for violent crimes against persons, which are on the rise. That should be Priority One for the LAPD, not somebody selling shoes in an alley.
Posted by: Rita Garcia | June 07, 2025 at 02:28 PM
Bill, if you're worried about lost jobs, then why are you supporting designer goods? Gucci, Prada, and other designer leather goods are all made in Pakistan and China. The knockoffs are made here in the USA, in East LA County, in fact. (Knockoffs are seized in customs, so that's how you know they have to made here in the US.) Gucci and Prada aren't even American companies. If you want to protect American jobs, you shouldn't buy designer stuff.
Posted by: A Casual Bystander | June 07, 2025 at 05:41 PM
Rita,
You and others have mentioned civil remedies for counterfeiters. What are the civil remedies. How do you sue someone who makes counterfeit purses in some unknown location, ships them in unmarked vans/trucks/cars, and sells them on street corners or in small shops most likely leased month to month under an assumed name? Are there civil remedies for the drug dealers on the corner, too? Should we sue them?
Posted by: Marcus | June 08, 2025 at 02:03 PM
>What are the civil remedies.
Read the federal and state statutes on trademark infringement. You seize the goods with a court order and then, using compulsory discovery, you expose the supply chain.
This happens all the time. That's why the AMPTP uses these much more effective civil remedies to stop movie piracy. They recently won a $300,000 *per offense* judgment here in LA County against film pirates selling pirated DVDs on LA streets. They didn't waste LAPD resources. They used the more effective civil remedies and didn't waste taxpayer resources.
>Are there civil remedies for the
>drug dealers on the corner, too?
>Should we sue them?
Since this has nothing to do with the subject, what's the point of bringing up this ad hominem comment?
Turning your argument against you, how is this raid in downtown LA going to take any kind of bite out of the supply chain? Answer: it won't make a whit of difference. That's why civil remedies are much more effective.
Posted by: Quinn | June 08, 2025 at 04:38 PM
There are a number of reasons the LAPD focuses on counterfeit clothing that have nothing to do with protecting copyrights or the so called “designer clothing industry.” Since September 11th, law enforcement in general, not just the LAPD, has linked counterfeit goods (clothing, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, etc.) to terrorist funding. International terrorist groups rely on cash to finance operations here and overseas. Many individuals who sympathize with the objectives of a terrorist group, but who don’t necessarily want to participate in a terrorist act themselves, raise money to support terrorists organizations in this gray market economy. In fact, there have been several FBI bulletins written about this phenomenon. In reality, counter terrorism investigations are not like the popular television series “24” where the hero disrupts a plot just before the terrorist strikes. The reality is that cutting off the funding that is needed to finance a terrorist act disrupts many plots before they endanger public safety. Investigations of counterfeit clothing sales in Los Angeles have resulted in disruptions of this type and should continue to be the focus of the LAPD in the future.
Posted by: Deputy Chief Mark Leap, Commanding Officer, LAPD Counter Terrorism Bureau | June 09, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Well said, Deputy Chief.
Quinn, I hadn't heard about the AMPTP actions you mentioned. Can you link me to more information on that?
In regards to seizing the DVD's with a court order to expose the chain, I've never seen that happen at a street level. I have worked with investigators when they've arrested counterfeit DVD sellers. Most of these guys dont have ID's and work out of a cardboard box which they promptly drop as they run with the police are near. These guys usually dont have enough information to "expose the chain".
By the way, props on using "ad hominem" in your post.
Posted by: Marcus | June 09, 2025 at 02:08 PM
Thanks for the info, Mark Leap. However, considering the two men arrested were Koreans, any link to terrorism in this situation seems extremely tenuous at best. What I've heard about the terrorism/counterfeit link is primarily in Europe, not the US. I still think this sounds like ex post facto rationale, with all due respect. If international terrorism is involved, that's more the purview of the FBI, not the LAPD. Job One for the LAPD should be its citizens and taxpayers.
Marcus, the regular AMPTP raids are well documented in detail in Variety. You have to be a subscriber to use their website, but you can get a two-week free trial subscription.
BTW, here's an interesting article about a civil action against WalMart for knockoff goods:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060609/bs_nm/retail_walmart_lawsuit_dc_3
Tiny URL in case that wraps: http://tinyurl.com/s62gd
Any connection between WalMart and the terrorists? Hmmmm.
(Hint hint hint: if HTML were allowed in posts, link problems wouldn't result and traffic would increase.)
Posted by: Quinn | June 13, 2025 at 01:22 PM
okay - so where does all the stuff go? I could use a new purse!
Posted by: Mel | July 23, 2024 at 10:31 PM
Whats funny is the minute someone steals something like a watch from people like Waynn or Adam they SCREAM like a stuck pig when the cops wont drop everything to help them! So ignorant and typical..
Posted by: Pot Luck | July 20, 2024 at 08:59 AM