Authorities enforce counterfeit sports merchandise laws

Flyers fans love to don their orange and black: hats, jerseys, shirts. But just how much of that is unauthorized merchandise?

Flyers fans love to don their orange and black: hats, jerseys, shirts. But just how much of that is unauthorized merchandise?

John Kelleghan, special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Investigations in Philadelphia, says ICE is fully enforcing laws pertaining to counterfeit sporting goods.

Kelleghan:
ICE is responsible for things that come across our borders – whether it’s into or out of – and it’s our responsibility to ensure that those items that are brought into the country are brought in legitimately. They’re counterfeit, they’re illegal. And what these individuals do is it precludes…the people from selling merchandise legitimately, hiring people legitimately to sell and work at their respective stores.

Special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, working with an investigator for the NHL and other professional sports leagues, recently investigated more than a dozen vendors and seized over 900 counterfeit hats, t-shirts, and jerseys worth about $58,000.