Inside a nondescript warehouse on Austin Boulevard in Island Park, police and investigators seized bins upon bins of pretend Nintendo Swap Docking Stations, Swap Adapters and Pokémon Go equipment.
On Thursday, 34-year-old Isaac Lapidus was arrested and charged with counterfeiting, a Class C felony that carries a most sentence of 15 years in jail.
“It was actually Amazon that brought him to our attention,” mentioned Nassau County District legal professional Anne Donnelly. “They were getting numerous returns and complaints about the product that his company was selling.”
Amazon, after flagging suspicious vendor exercise, coordinated with Nintendo to substantiate that the merchandise had been counterfeit. The businesses then referred the case to native authorities.
Investigators say Lapidus had been working the counterfeit operation since 2018, utilizing 5 Amazon vendor accounts to maneuver pretend merchandise to clients nationwide.
Investigators mentioned the vendor names included:
PandaVida Inc.
Unibabe
ABC of product
This Too Shall Cross
Zuzu Cares 4 U (now working as ArminStore)
All 5 accounts used 4217 Austin Boulevard — the Island Park warehouse owned by Lapidus — as their delivery tackle. Data present greater than 200,000 pretend Nintendo Swap docks, 10,000 adapters and over 15,000 Pokémon Go Plus equipment had been bought by means of Amazon, totaling over $2 million in gross sales.
Amazon mentioned that they’d refund clients who bought the phony merchandise.
“Amazon has a zero-tolerance policy for counterfeit products and since 2023, collaborated with Nintendo of America and law enforcement on the investigation that led to this successful enforcement action,” an announcement from Amazon learn. “Once we identified this issue, we acted quickly to protect customers and the Nintendo brand by removing the counterfeit listings and blocking relevant selling accounts.”
Neighbors say the warehouse had develop into a nuisance lengthy earlier than the raid, particularly round Christmas.
“They’ll have 18-wheelers — one unloading, one waiting,” mentioned Cathy Corridor, who lives close by. “They block the street. We’ve got a school right here.”
Corridor additionally expressed outrage that the counterfeit merchandise had been largely meant for kids.
“It’s disgusting. These products are for kids,” she added.
Consultants say counterfeits have develop into widespread, particularly in electronics.
At Pay Extra, an electronics trade-in retailer, company coach Jake Marquina inspects merchandise each day for authenticity.
“Nationwide, we get asked every day: ‘Is this real?'” Marquina mentioned. “One or two out of every hundred Nintendo items we check turn out to be fake.”
He identified that counterfeit Nintendo merchandise usually have tell-tale flaws.
“There’s a lacking imprint, faint lettering, or incorrect font. It’s delicate, however it issues,” he defined.
DA Donnelly warned that counterfeit electronics aren’t simply an financial situation—however a security one.
“He made a lot of money doing something very dangerous,” Donnelly mentioned.
“When you sell counterfeit electronics, the fear is always that they could cause a fire.”
Nintendo’s assessment of the merchandise revealed incorrect serial numbers, flawed Japanese characters, and improper designs — clear indicators they weren’t genuine.
Lapidus pleaded not responsible and was launched to pre-trial companies. He’s due again in courtroom on September 18. His legal professional maintained his shopper’s innocence, telling NBC New York that Lapidus didn’t know they had been counterfeits, and that there was no intent to deceive or defraud anybody.
Lapidus’ legal professional famous that police didn’t discover any instruments or units that will be used to make counterfeit items contained in the warehouse.
Authorities mentioned extra arrests are anticipated within the coming days, because the investigation continues.
“We know he was in business with someone else,” Donnelly mentioned. “We intend to arrest him next week.”
