New York City Police Department FY22 Intellectual Property Enforcement Program: Protecting Public Health, Safety, and the Economy from Counterfeit Goods and Product Piracy

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is tasked with ensuring the security of the nearly 8.4 million residents of New York City. The NYPD respectfully request funding for support an undercover operation designed to identify, infiltrate, and dismantle large scale, transnational counterfeiting operations that smuggle goods into the Tri-State area. The operation will be conducted by a joint task force comprised of the NYPD, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP).

         Using grant funding, the NYPD will establish an undercover logistics company capable of retrieving goods from ports and warehousing and delivering the illicit goods. Task Force investigators will be introduced into these networks through confidential sources, undercover agents, and cooperating witnesses. This will provide members of the task force with first-hand knowledge of the internal working of the counterfeiting network, locations of operation, bank accounts, and organizational hierarchy. Surveillance will be conducted. Warrants will be requested for GPS trackers and Penn Registers to track cell phone communications.

        Once accounts have been identified, analysis will be conducted to track proceeds being laundered internationally. Further analysis will identify assets that can be seized. The operations will include close collaboration with local and federal prosecutors in order to establish conspiracy charges against each identified network. Once charges have been established and assets have been identified, a comprehensive takedown will be coordinated. HSI attaché offices will be contacted to coordinate local enforcement activity abroad to accompany the local takedown. Extradition will be requested from any amenable country of origin. For those not willing, Red Notices will be issued and foreign targets will be picked up if they travel to an extradition-friendly country. Post take-down, agents will attempt to utilize newly arrested subjects to help them infiltrate additional networks of international counterfeiting. CBP will also continually target potential additional international counterfeiting networks.

        The purpose of this operation is to establish a comprehensive front for a logistics company which be utilized by criminal organizations. Case officers will coordinate simultaneous actions taken against exporters and importers to slow the trafficking of counterfeit goods and laundering of its proceeds, with the ultimate objective of establishing a proven tactic for dismantling transnational criminal organizations.