Tyngsboro Company Sentenced for Selling Counterfeit Computer Equipment
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 20, 2011 |
BOSTON, MA—A Tyngsboro company was sentenced in United States District Court for selling counterfeit computer equipment from 2005 through 2007.
U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel sentenced BIZI INTERNATIONAL, INC. to two years’ probation and ordered them to pay $219,439 in restitution to Cisco Systems, Inc.
On March 7, 2011, BIZI pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging the company with trafficking in counterfeit goods. Had the case proceeded to trial, the government would have proven that, from 2005 through 2007, BIZI sold what it claimed was authentic Cisco Systems computer networking hardware. However, BIZI had not obtained this computer hardware through authorized Cisco distributors or resellers. Rather, it bought these items from sources who were selling them at a fraction of the standard retail prices. BIZI then resold these products, generally via the Internet, knowing that a significant portion of this equipment was counterfeit. BIZI generated more than $200,000 in revenue from the sale of this counterfeit Cisco equipment.
U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Office made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Bookbinder in Ortiz’s Cybercrimes Unit.