Jae Seon “Jason” Yoon’s Lynwood warehouse was packed with the kind of shoddy products adorning convenience store counters the world over – marijuana accessories, cheap knives, erection pills. The business, Top Wholesale, also offered up counterfeit Seahawks gear and Hello Kitty stickers.
Yoon, 56, was arrested in July after federal prosecutors in Tacoma charged him with importing drug paraphernalia and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Authorities had been warning the Mill Creek man for years to get out of the illicit trade that he’d found so profitable.
“If, as Pablo Picasso reportedly said, ‘Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,’ then Jae Seon Yoon painted Louvre-worthy masterpieces for years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marci Ellsworth said in court papers.
The “pieces” investigators were most concerned with initially, though, sold for about $35. They were unconvincing Chinese copies of high-end bongs imported into the United States as “oil and vinegar dispensers.”
Yoon made his living as a wholesale supplier to Western Washington smoke shops – generally small, privately owned convenience stores. Some of what he sold was legitimate, while much was not.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Blaine seized 60 of the mislabeled bongs in May 2012. They were headed to Top Wholesale.
As they would several more times over the three years that followed, customs officials warned Yoon to stop importing bunk bongs.
‘Sex pills,’ Seahawks hats mean trouble for counterfeiter
Man sentenced after making millions selling counterfeit goods to area convenience stores
By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF Updated 4:07 pm, Friday, June 17, 2016
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Investigators took this photo while seizing goods belonging to Jae Seon Yoon from a Lynnwood warehouse. Yoon has been sentenced to four months in federal detention for the scheme. Photo: Department Of Justice
Photo: Department Of Justice
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Investigators took this photo while seizing goods belonging to Jae Seon Yoon from a Lynnwood warehouse. Yoon has been sentenced to four months in federal detention for the scheme.
A Seattle-area man who made millions selling bogus Seahawks paraphernalia, bongs and “male enhancement” drugs has been sentenced to six months in federal detention.
Jae Seon “Jason” Yoon’s Lynwood warehouse was packed with the kind of shoddy products adorning convenience store counters the world over – marijuana accessories, cheap knives, erection pills. The business, Top Wholesale, also offered up counterfeit Seahawks gear and Hello Kitty stickers.
Yoon, 56, was arrested in July after federal prosecutors in Tacoma charged him with importing drug paraphernalia and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Authorities had been warning the Mill Creek man for years to get out of the illicit trade that he’d found so profitable.
“If, as Pablo Picasso reportedly said, ‘Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,’ then Jae Seon Yoon painted Louvre-worthy masterpieces for years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marci Ellsworth said in court papers.
The “pieces” investigators were most concerned with initially, though, sold for about $35. They were unconvincing Chinese copies of high-end bongs imported into the United States as “oil and vinegar dispensers.”
Yoon made his living as a wholesale supplier to Western Washington smoke shops – generally small, privately owned convenience stores. Some of what he sold was legitimate, while much was not.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Blaine seized 60 of the mislabeled bongs in May 2012. They were headed to Top Wholesale.
As they would several more times over the three years that followed, customs officials warned Yoon to stop importing bunk bongs.
He didn’t heed their advice.
Prior to his arrest, Yoon imported thousands of marijuana pipes, e-cigarette machines, tchotchkes and sex pills. He ordered 20,000 counterfeit Major League Baseball and National Football League hats, and smuggled in thousands of counterfeit stickers used at a “sticker station” in his warehouse where customers added branding to stash jars, pipes and other goods.
Yoon also accrued thousands of dollars in as-yet-unpaid fines, and saw several shipments seized by customs officials. He received cease and desist letters from several trademark holders, including one from Hello Kitty maker Sanrio.
Ellsworth noted that a representative for e-cigarette maker Atmos Nation said the counterfeit e-cigs Yoon offered for sale could be dangerous.
“Atmos pointed out potential safety concerns in counterfeit electronic cigarettes, including uncoated heating coils which could rust and emit toxic fumes … and the inclusion of counterfeit batteries which lacked a shut-off safety mechanism,” the federal prosecutor said.
Food and Drug Administration agents also investigated Yoon. They found the erection pills he was selling contained a mix of the active ingredients found in Viagra and Cialis. Each capsule held nearly the normal dose of sildenafil found in Viagra and seven times the dose of tadalafil in a Cialis tab.
Yoon was selling 13 brands of the pills. Lab test showed that all but one contained some kind of prescription drug.
Writing the court, defense attorney Ronald Friedman noted that the same pills are widely marketed and sold across the country.
“There were hundreds, if not thousands, of vendors purchasing these pills from the California manufacturer and selling these same pills – including 7-Elevens, convenience stores, gas stations and ‘smoke shops’ along the West Coast,” Friedman said in court papers.
Yoon also sold “spice” – a chemical combination often marketed as synthetic marijuana, though the drugs have little in common.
All the while, Yoon was selling untaxed cigarettes. Washington state regulators fined his company more than $30 million in estimated back taxes.
“Yoon knew what the rules were and chose to ignore them in favor of making a profit,” Ellsworth said.
Investigators conducted a series of searches last summer.
They seized about 200,000 drug accessories, 50,000 counterfeit items and 10,500 sex pills, as well as hundreds of packages of spice. Four semi trailers were packed with contraband. Also seized was $1.4 million investigators claimed Yoon made by selling counterfeit and illicit goods.
Yoon pleaded guilty to related charges in March, and took the unusual step of publishing a letter of apology in America's largest Korean-language newspaper, the Korea Times. The criminal convictions mean Yoon will be returning to his native Korea after serving his prison term.
The conviction marks a low in what had been a productive life for Yoon. According to his attorney’s statements, Yoon’s children excel in their fields of interest. They’re now being called on to support their father as he returns to Korea to start again.
“He has lost everything including his ability to remain in the U.S.,” Friedman said in court papers. “He has been absolutely embarrassed by all of this. …
“Too many people run from their responsibility. Mr. Yoon accepted it, was humiliated by it, but has put it to good use.”
Yoon has been monitored electronically since his arrest. He is expected to report to the SeaTac Federal Detention Center in coming weeks to serve his jail sentence.
Resource : http://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/Louvre-worthy-Seattle-area-counterfeiter-8308415.php
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