Nine people, ranging from logistics executives and warehouse owners to truckers, have been named in a federal indictment involving an alleged wide-scale scheme to smuggle millions of dollars’ worth of fake goods from China through the Los Angeles and Long Beach seaports, the U.S. Justice Department said Jan. 27.
The 15-count federal indictment, which was unsealed Jan. 24, charges nine people with “conspiracy, smuggling and breaking customs seals” from at least August 2023 to June 2024, according to the Justice Department.
The agency asserts that the nine people shifted cargo containers from China for “off-site secondary inspection” and swapped the illegal goods with filler cargo.
Over the course of the investigation, more than $130 million in contraband was seized, including $20 million in fake goods such as clothes, luxury purses, perfume, shoes and watches confiscated in June.
Eight of the nine people have been arrested and await trial, scheduled for March 18. Weijun Zheng, 57, of Diamond Bar, who controlled various logistics firms operating in the L.A. region, remains a fugitive.
Those who were arrested include:
- Hexi Wang, 32, of El Monte, who manages City of Industry-based K&P International Logistics LLC, which allegedly recruited truck drivers to move containers from the Port of L.A.
- Jin “Mark” Liu, 42, of Irvine, the K&P International Logistics LLC owner who handled the finances for one of the warehouses that allegedly held illegal goods and paid truckers to move those goods.
- Dong “Liam” Lin, 31, of Hacienda Heights, who was in charge of one of the contraband warehouses.
- Marck Anthony Gomez, 49, of West Covina, the owner and operator of Fannum Trucks LLC. He’s alleged to have organized moving contraband containers.
- Andy Estuardo Castillo Perez, 32, of Apple Valley, a M4 Transportation Inc. driver.
- Jesse James Rosales, 41, of Apple Valley, who coordinated truckers.
- Daniel Acosta Hoffman, 41, of Hacienda Heights, who is said to have worked with Rosales to bring cargo containers from the port to warehouses.
- Galvin Biao Liufu, 33, of Ontario, who the Justice Department said oversaw truckers bringing the goods into the warehouses.
If convicted, the nine could serve a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for every count of conspiracy, up to 10 years in federal prison for each count of breaking customs seals, and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each smuggling count, according to the Justice Department.
The $1.3 billion dollars’ worth of contraband seized during the investigation into this type of scheme illuminates how complex smuggling schemes try to exploit our legitimate trade practices and the American consumer,” Department of Homeland Security Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang said.
