On the territory of Busk, between August and mid-December last year, large-scale production and sale of counterfeit branded clothing, footwear and electronics was organised. According to the investigation, the organised criminal group consisted of eight people. This was reported under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
Investigators believe that a local resident devised a scheme for manufacturing fake clothing and footwear of well-known brands and involved six more accomplices in it, among them his wife, as well as another resident of Busk as an accessory. The roles of the group members were clearly defined.
According to the investigation, the organiser directed the group’s activities, supplied the workshops with raw materials, purchased finished clothing, oversaw production, logistics, finances and compliance with banking limits for sole traders. Two members of the group set up sewing workshops, recruited staff and managed the sewing of clothing in specially equipped premises. There they produced casual-style clothing imitating the products of well-known Italian brands: tracksuits, gilets, down jackets, hoodies and hats.
Two other members were responsible for logistics: they delivered raw materials to the workshops and finished goods to warehouses, shops and post offices. One of the warehouses where the counterfeit goods were stored was registered in the name of the organiser’s wife, according to the investigation; she also handled advertising and sales. Another member sold the counterfeit clothing through his own shop. The accessory used his print shop to manufacture and print counterfeit tags, labels and price tags.
The finished and purchased goods were stored in warehouse premises. According to the investigation, sales were carried out retail through physical outlets and online, disguising this as legitimate business activity with the distribution of financial flows to comply with tax limits. One of the shops operated in Busk, the other in the central part of Lviv. Online trading was conducted via social networks, a marketplace and the group’s own website, which made it possible to ship goods throughout Ukraine. In addition, the organiser, according to the investigation, personally sold counterfeit headphones and smartwatches of a world-famous brand via the Internet.
In December last year, the group’s activities were stopped. During searches in the workshop, at the warehouse and at the homes of those involved, nearly 26,000 tags with the brand name of the Italian company, more than 4,000 items of clothing imitating original products, electronic equipment, sewing machines, fabric, SIM cards, rough accounting records, over 1 million UAH, 700 US dollars and other physical evidence were seized. The total amount of losses caused to the companies owning the trademarks is preliminarily estimated at almost 98 million UAH.
All eight members of the organised group have been notified of suspicion. The organiser is charged with unlawful use of trademarks, committed repeatedly and causing significant material damage, as well as organising the unlawful use of such marks by an organised group, causing material damage (Part 2, 3 of Article 229 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The other members have been notified of suspicion of unlawful use of trademarks, committed by an organised group and causing material damage (Part 3 of Article 229 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The accessory is charged with aiding and abetting the unlawful use of trademarks, committed by an organised group and causing material damage (Part 5 of Article 27 – Part 3 of Article 229 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Territorial Office of the Bureau of Economic Security in Lviv region with operational support from the 6th Volyn Border Detachment of the Western Regional Directorate of the SBGS and the Cybercrime Counteraction Department in Lviv region. Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime until their guilt is proved in the manner prescribed by law and established by a guilty verdict of a court.