Over $1 Billion In Counterfeit Goods Seized In Midtown: Feds

MIDTOWN, NY — The bags might be fakes, but the charges against two New York City men facing up to 10 years in prison are very real.

Over $1 billion in counterfeit bags, clothes, shoes, and other luxury items stored inside Midtown storage units were recently seized by law enforcement, federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York revealed Wednesday.

About 219,000 black-market fakes were seized by Homeland Security Investigations agents and the NYPD from Gotham mini-storage in Midtown, prosecutors said.

Two men, Adama Sow, 38, of Queens, and Abdulai Jalloh, 48, of Manhattan, were indicted Wednesday on charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods — which carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years behind bars.

U.S. attorney Damian Williams called it "the largest-ever seizure of counterfeit goods in U.S. history."

“As alleged, the defendants used a Manhattan storage facility as a distribution center for massive amounts of knock-off designer goods,” Williams said.

Prosecutors said that the scheme between Sow and Jalloh began in January 2023, when they started operating the historically large black-market operation from the Midtown storage facility, and ended in October.

Jalloh also sold goods from another site in Manhattan, officials said.

“The trafficking of counterfeit goods is anything but a victimless crime because it harms legitimate businesses, governments, and consumers," said NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban.

"Today’s indictments show how seriously the NYPD and our federal partners take this offense," Caban said in a statement. "And we will continue to work hard to hold accountable anyone who seeks to benefit by selling such items on the black market.”