Crime & Safety
Andover Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Counterfeit Electronics
Andover resident Ahmad Raad will face sentencing in February after being convicted of operating an online business that sold counterfeit goods.
An Andover man was convicted of selling thousands of counterfeit electronics illegally though eBay and faces up to 20 years in jail and $250,000 in fines.
On Wednesday, Ahmad Raad, 55, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole to trafficking in counterfeit goods and mail fraud. Raad was charged in an Information, which is a formal criminal charge without a grand jury indictment.
Between the 2007 and 2011, he was found to have sold a variety of counterfeit electronics under a brand name called "eMartCentral" through eBay or his website. The goods, such as memory sticks or batteries, were purchased by Raad from Chinese manufacturers that did not have approval to produce items that bore the logo of Sony or another major brand name.
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He had also bought items with no logos and then applied labels himself before shipping them.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 14. Raad faces up to $250,000 in fines and a maximum of 20 years in prison.
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The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy Harman Burkart and Scott L. Garland of Ortiz’s Cybercrime Unit.
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