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Cisco Counterfeiter Gets 5 Years in Jail

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The price of counterfeiting came with a big price for Chun-Yu Zhao. A federal judge last week sentenced the Chinese-born technology entrepreneur to five years in jail and ordered her to pay more than $2.7 million in restitution and $17,500 in fines for a conspiracy scheme to import and sell fake Cisco networking gear in the U.S.

Zhao is the owner of the now-defunct Cisco reseller JDC Networking of Virginia. She and co-conspirator Donald Cone of Maryland were convicted of earlier crimes. Authorities seized more than $143 million worth of fake Cisco equipment the pair had imported from a shell company in Hong Kong.

In addition to the jail time and fines, Zhao is being stripped of her U.S. citizenship and being forced to forfeit her four Maryland and Northern Virginia homes, three Virginia condominiums, a Porsche Cayenne and Boxster, a Mercedes-Benz sedan and seven bank accounts with assets totaling more than $1.6 million.

Zhao’s sentencing brings an end to one of the largest IT equipment counterfeiting schemes in recent memory. U.S. and Canadian authorities have been working together to staunch the flow of illegal and bogus IT goods coming into the U.S.

The Zhao scheme was particularly elaborate. Authorities say Zhao used several aliases to cover her tracks and hid money in the bank accounts of family members. Proceeds were used to buy real estate to launder the money.

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