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 In an investigation that began in April, authorities traced fake Nikes sold in Niagara Falls back to a Chinese supplier and identified the operation's New York City-based importers and distributors. The sneakers arrived in New York in shipping containers.
"Typically ... manifests are falsified, goods are secured in a way that they can't be easily discovered or identified. They were mislabeled or imported illegally through some mechanism," said Lev Kubiak, the agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's investigations office in Buffalo.
The sneakers were sold in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Rochester, N.Y., as well as Milwaukee; Chicago; Pittsburgh; Dallas; Pawtucket, R.I.; and the state of Georgia, according to the indictment.
None of the fake sneakers -- which at $40 to $60 a pair sold for about half the retail value of the true product
-- were sold by licensed Nike retailers, authorities said.
"The advice we give to consumers is the point of purchase," said Nike Inc.'s security director, David Simpson. "That's the key not only with our goods but with many counterfeit goods. Neither Nike nor most brands sell out of trucks on street corners."
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 While executing eight search warrants in raids Wednesday, local, state and federal law enforcement agents seized hundreds of thousands of dollars believed to be proceeds from the sales, Kubiak said. In one New York City location, agents seized 20,000 pairs of suspected counterfeit sneakers.
Although some Nike shoes are manufactured in China, the sneakers targeted Wednesday were made outside of the Beaverton, Ore., company's supply chain, Kubiak said.
In 2006, U.S. agents involved in stopping phony goods at U.S. borders made more than 14,000 seizures worth at least $155 million, according to the Homeland Security Department. China was the source of 81 percent of all phony goods seized in 2006, and 41 percent of the bogus items confiscated last year were shoes, making footwear the largest category of fakes.
[Associated Press; by Carolyn
Thompson]
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