Falls Church Man Sentenced for Smuggling Fake Apple, Samsung Products

Bao Doan, 32, Falls Church, was sentenced Friday to a year and one day in prison for conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Apple and Samsung products and smuggling, the U.S. Justice Department for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.

Doan was also ordered to forfeit over $115,000 in proceeds and to pay Apple and Samsung more than $20,000 in restitution.

Doan was found guilty by a federal jury June 16, after a three-day trial. According to evidence presented at trial and sentencing, Doan operated the conspiracy from his store, called iFaifo, in Falls Church at 417 W. Broad St. Over the course of approximately two years, Doan received hundreds of shipments containing counterfeit Apple and Samsung products from co-conspirators in China and Hong Kong, and then distributed these items wholesale to stores in the area, according to the Justice Department.

Since October 2014, Doan received several warnings to cease and desist from both U.S. Customs and Border Protection and representatives from Apple and Samsung. Rather than heed these warnings, Doan developed new ways to evade customs, such as by having counterfeit goods sent to his home address under his mother’s name.

PHOTO of U.S. Justice Department, Eastern District of Virginia