The director of a firm that planned to put 250,000 counterfeit toys on the shelves of high-street stores could be jailed for his role in the operation.
Jonathan Kahn, 63, of Golders Green, London, had denied peddling tens of thousands of fake Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures and other branded toys.
Kahn’s family members sobbed in court when guilty verdicts were returned on 34 trade-mark offences. He was convicted at Preston Crown Court on February 8 in what is thought to be the biggest case of its kind in Britain.
Kahn, a member of a strictly Orthodox community, is a director of Amazing Savings Ltd (ASL), which was involved in the plan to rip off brands including Marvel, Hasbro and Viacom.
The offences emerged during a probe by Blackpool Council’s trading standards department after a tip-off.
During a week-long trial, the court heard that, when sales had been agreed and the companies requested a sample, genuine figures had been sent.
But ASL later sourced cheaper, black-market goods from the Far East. Jurors were told of incriminating e-mails between Kahn and his main supplier from China — calling himself Eddie Wong — in which “Wong” tells him: “We ask them to steal part of the goods for us around end of April.”
Among the thousands of fake figures sold by Kahn were more than 22,000 counterfeit turtles and almost 43,000 fake Spiderman figures during 2014 and 2015. A trading standards raid on ASL’s offices found 54 genuine toy samples, but officers visited a distributor and seized items believed to be counterfeit.
Trading standards revisited ASL and seized computer evidence which revealed the firm was in direct contact with China.
Judge Stuart Baker will pass sentence on April 21.
Blackpool Council said the conviction was “a great result for what we believe is the biggest trading standards case of its kind in the UK.”.
