Anti-Counterfeiting Sting Ending at Winter Classic Seizes $700K in Fake Merch
These are the real ones. (Getty Images)
If you're upset that the numbers are already peeling off the Pavel Datsyuk jersey you bought for $50 outside the Big House before the Winter Classic, take solace knowing the guy who sold it you might very well be in jail:
Federal agents seized 6,121 bogus National Hockey League and other sportswear items estimated to be worth $723,377 as part of a three-month national anti-counterfeiting investigation dubbed "Operation Team Player."
In metro Detroit, agents seized unlicensed items worth $32,550, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit said in a statement this afternoon.
The operation, billed by the feds as a "crackdown on intellectual property rights," ended with the NHL's 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium on Wednesday. The operation was targeted at unlicensed NHL merchandise.
I shudder to think that this beautiful shirt is no longer available to the public.
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