#counterfeiting

#counterfeiting

Federal prosecutors stated that Erwin Bankowski and Karolina Bankowska commissioned an artist in Poland to create at least 200 forgeries, defrauding buyers of at least $2 million.

"In many ways they've become part of the visual landscape of the vintage market, particularly online, where speed often replaces connoisseurship," says Rodrigo Fernández, director and cofounder of Diez Company.

Droves of angry New Yorkers surrounded a group of federal agents Thursday afternoon after they began questioning and detaining street vendors on the busy commercial strip, known for its sidewalk bazaars and shops selling knock-off designer goods. Law enforcement raids aimed at combating counterfeiting are relatively frequent on Canal Street, but the sight of dozens of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents making arrests drew instant protests.

It seemed no more than a curious footnote-a counterfeiter so outlandishly inept that his forged dollar bills were detectable even at a casual glance. Nearly all were emblazoned with a telltale flaw: the name of America's first President was spelled "Wahsington." The scammer, who operated in the New York area from 1938 to 1948, was known to the often exasperated agents of the U.S. Secret Service as No. 880, for the number of his case file.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: USPTO Acting Commissioner for Patents Valencia Martin Wallace sends an internal email to staff indicating that 1% of the agency's workforce will be laid off; U.S. sales of electric vehicles hit a record during the third quarter of 2025 just as federal subsidies for EV purchases ended; the Federal Circuit nixes US Inventor's pursuit of associational standing to sue the USPTO for denying its petition for rulemaking on discretionary denial criteria for AIA trials;

Daniel Elie Bouaziz was sentenced to prison for money laundering after his Palm Beach gallery sold forgeries of famous artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and Banksy, aided by fake documents.