3 Arrested in Operation Fashion Faux Pas

Three Orange County vendors swept up in a federal crackdown on counterfeiting have been charged with dealing in fake designer goods, authorities said today.

John Giang Ly, 24, Gokhan Kucuk, 33, and Joon Heung Son, 45, were charged Friday with counterfeiting-related charges, according to Virginia Kice of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ly, who does business out of his Westminster home, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on one count of the manufacture or sale of counterfeit goods and four counts of dealing in counterfeit goods with prior convictions for selling fake goods, all felonies.

Kucuk, who operates Hot Trends kiosks in Huntington Beach, is charged with one count of the manufacture or sale of counterfeit goods and two counts of vending counterfeit goods with similar prior convictions, all felonies.

Son, who owns Shoe World stores in Garden Grove and Los Angeles, pleaded not guilty Friday to three felony counts of the manufacture or sale of counterfeit goods, according to court records.

Their arrests were part of ICE's Operation Fashion Faux Pas.

Investigators seized hundreds of wallets, cellphone cases and jewelry bearing phony trademarks for designer brands such as Burberry and Prada from Kucuk's kiosks, according to ICE.

Authorities seized phony designer purses from Ly's home and fake trademarks were on the shoes seized from Son's businesses, according to ICE.

The allegedly counterfeit goods seized from the three were worth about $100,000, according to ICE.

A total of seven Orange County vendors have been swept up in Operation Faux Pas.

- City News Service