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AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885
June 5, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GERMANTOWN MAN SENTENCED TO 18 MONTHS FOR TRAFFICKING IN COUNTERFEIT GOODS AND THEFT OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
Fake Tiffany, Louis Vuitton and Other Items Sold/Offered for Sale; Theft of Federal Rental Subsidies of $43,012
Greenbelt, Maryland - Clifford Chambers, age 50, of Germantown, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for trafficking in counterfeit goods and theft of government property, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte also ordered that Chambers pay restitution of $80,912.
According to the statement of facts presented to the court on February 1, 2006 at his guilty plea, Chambers owned and operated a business known as “Cliff’s Connection” from 2000 to June 29, 2004. The business inventory consisted of designer fashions and fashion accessories such as handbags, wallets, jewelry, clothing and other items bearing counterfeit marks substantially indistinguishable from genuine marks in use and registered for those goods. In January, February and June 2004, Chambers sold an undercover agent a purse with a counterfeit trademark “Louis Vuitton,” a silver necklace and bracelet with a counterfeit trademark “Tiffany & Co.” and a purse with a counterfeit trademark “Kate Spade.” On June 29, 2004, agents seized several hundred counterfeit items from his residence and vehicles. The retail value of the infringing items sold or offered for sale by Chambers is $37,580.
From May 2000 to 2004, Chambers unlawfully received $43,012 in federal rental subsidy benefits. Along with a co-defendant, Chambers concealed the amount of his annual income in order to fraudulently qualify for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development housing subsidies for which he would otherwise be ineligible.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Housing and Urban Development - OIG for their investigative work, and commended Assistant United States Attorney Donna Sanger, who prosecuted the case.
This page last modified—June 6, 2006