Louisville customs officers seize more than $4.4 million in counterfeit jewelry

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized three shipments of counterfeit jewelry worth more than $4.4 million attempting to enter the United States.

On April 3, two shipments from Hong Kong were heading to a residence in Jeffersonville, Indiana with different recipient names, according to a release.

One of the shipments contained 400 bracelets with suspect Van Cleef and Arpels trademarks, while the other shipment contained 993 jewelry sets with the same suspect trademarks.

The jewelry was determined fake by trade experts, and had a suggested retail price of $3.7 million if the items were real.

One day later, another shipment coming from Hong Kong heading to Cleveland had 1,367 counterfeit pendants that had multiple suspect trademarks.

All of the merchandise inside was determined as fake, and would have had a $710,295 retail price if it was real.

“No one buys a luxury brand piece of jewelry expecting it to fail or fall apart,” Louisville Port Director Thomas Mahn said in a statement. “As consumers increasingly purchase from online or third party vendors, our officers are at the frontline to guard against defrauders expecting to make money selling fake merchandise.”

The shipments were turned over to the Department of Homeland Security for investigation.