A Lawrence, New York, man is accused of making millions selling fake Nintendo gaming products online and now faces counterfeiting and conspiracy charges.
The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said in a release that from October 2018 through this month, Isaac Lapidus, 34, sold products on Amazon through five accounts.
The accounts purported to offer docking stations and adapters for the Nintendo Switch video game console and accessories made to support the “Pokemon Go” mobile game.
Customers and reviewers claimed to find inconsistencies in the products, including incorrect product codes, serial numbers, designs and Japanese language characters, the district attorney’s office said.
Mr. Lapidus sold more than 200,000 docking stations, 10,000 dock adapters and 15,705 Pokemon Go Plus accessories for about $2 million across the five Amazon accounts.
Amazon and Nintendo caught wise to Mr. Lapidus’ alleged counterfeiting and told the district attorney’s office, prompting the investigation. Amazon also flagged the five accounts to stop any further sales.
A search warrant executed at an Island Park, New York, warehouse on Tuesday turned up an additional 46 docking station and adapter sets, 33 boxes of the Pokemon accessories and 23 boxes of Coolbaby HD Video gaming sets, the district attorney’s office said. All of the products were found to be counterfeits. Mr. Lapidus was arrested that day.
Authorities charged him with trademark counterfeiting in the first degree and conspiracy in the fourth degree, both felonies. Mr. Lapidus pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on Sept. 18.
If Mr. Lapidus is convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
