A Lawrence man was charged with counterfeiting and conspiracy for allegedly selling hundreds of thousands of counterfeit Nintendo products and accessories on Amazon worth over $2 million that were stored in an Island Park warehouse, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
Isaac Lapidus, 34, was arraigned on Wednesday, Sept. 3, on charges of trademark counterfeiting and conspiracy.
Donnelly said he pleaded not guilty and, if convicted, faces up to 15 years in prison.
The DA said Amazon and Nintendo referred a complaint for investigation after uncovering alleged counterfeit Nintendo products being sold through the online retailer’s platform across five individual seller accounts: PandaVida Inc., Unibabe, ABC of product, this too shall pass, and Zuzu Cares 4 U (now listed as ArminStore on Amazon).
Each of the accounts used the address 4217 Austin Blvd. in Island Park as a shipping or removal address to move merchandise to or from Amazon’s fulfillment centers, Donnelly said.
Donnelly said Lapidus is the signatory on the mortgage for the warehouse listed by each seller account with Amazon for fulfillment purposes and the owner of PandaVida Inc.
She said that each of the five seller accounts was allegedly controlled or connected to Lapidus through the Island Park warehouse, Amazon accounts, bank account information, or phone numbers.
The businesses involved in the sales offered Nintendo Switch Docking Stations, devices used to connect the Nintendo Switch console to TVs, Docking Station Adapters and Pokémon Go Plus accessories, the DA said.
Donnelly said a review of the products offered through the various Nintendo sellers revealed several inconsistencies with legitimate Nintendo products, including incorrect serial numbers, product codes, designs, and Japanese language characters, which confirmed the products were counterfeit.
Based on Amazon sales records across the five seller accounts, between October 2018 and now, more than 200,000 Nintendo Switch Docking Stations, 10,000 Switch Dock Adapters and approximately 15,705 counterfeit Pokémon Go Plus accessories were sold, for total gross sales of more than $2 million by the five seller accounts, Donnelly said.
After identifying the suspected counterfeit products, Amazon flagged the accounts and prevented any additional sales, she said.
A search warrant executed on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the Island Park warehouse recovered 46 boxes of Nintendo Switch Docking Station and power adapter sets, 23 boxes of Nintendo Cool Baby HD video game sets and 33 boxes of Nintendo Pokémon Plus Go accessories, all of which were determined counterfeit by Amazon, the DA said.
