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Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced that an illegal enterprise that imported and sold counterfeit LiveSTRONG bracelets in New York City has been put out of business and that the participants in the criminal enterprise have pleaded guilty in state court. In addition, the defendants in the case have turned over $111,830 to the Lance Armstrong Foundation as part of their sentences.

This was a cynical scheme to profit from the public’s strong support for the tiffany jewellery Lance Armstrong Foundation’s work, said Attorney General Spitzer. The sale of each counterfeit bracelet deprived the charity of money that could further its work in cancer treatment and research. I am pleased that the ill-gotten gains we recovered from this illegal enterprise will be turned over to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

The New York Attorney General’s office has made substantial progress in ensuring that when Lance Armstrong Foundation supporters buy a LiveSTRONG wristband, they can feel confident that the LAF and people living with cancer benefit from their generosity and support, said Betty Otter-Nickerson, chief operating officer of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

The Attorney General’s Office secured guilty pleas in the case after shutting down the counterfeiting ring in April when investigators from Spitzer’s office and the State Police raided two distribution facilities in Queens and Manhattan. During the raids, more than 80,000 counterfeit bracelets and over $100,000 in cash rings were seized.

New York State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said stealing money from cancer survivors and their families is despicable. These arrests have stopped a criminal enterprise that in reality had multiple victims: the individual consumers who were defrauded, whose intentions to contribute to cancer survivors were thwarted; and a legitimate charity and its deserving beneficiaries.

The counterfeiting operation was headed by Li Ping Liang Chen, who operated Eastlink International, Inc. – an import-export company – from her home in Queens. Chen arranged to have the counterfeit LiveSTRONG bracelets produced in China, and imported into the United States through Kennedy International Airport.

Undercover investigators working on the case purchased a box containing over 1,000 counterfeit bracelets wristbands at a store in New York City operated by some of the defendants in this case. According to U.S. Customs agents, the airbill number on this box of counterfeit bracelets established that it was imported by Eastlink International.