Louisville officials confiscate thousands of fake designer jewelry pieces

Lillian Metzmeier, Louisville Courier JournalMon, May 11, 2026 at 8:45 PM UTC

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Louisville customs agents confiscated thousands of pieces of counterfeit designer jewelry after finding them in a shipment May 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed in a May 11 news release.

Officers reportedly seized 1,622 pieces of fake jewelry heading from Hong Kong to Chicago. According to the release, the shipment, which contained counterfeit Cartier, Tiffany, and Van Cleef and Arpels trademarks, would have had a manufacturer's suggested retail price of more than $14.1 million for the authentic goods.

The counterfeit designer jewelry was headed from Hong Kong to Chicago, according to a release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

After suspecting the jewelry might be fake, officers submitted documentation of the shipment for review by experts at the agency's Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising Center of Excellence and Expertise, who verified the pieces were not authentic and were subject to seizure. In the release, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Louisville Port Director Phil Onken said the primary concerns are consumer safety and trademark protection.

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“Customs and Border Protection will continue to work closely with our trade and consumer safety partners to identify and seize counterfeit and trademark infringing merchandise, especially those products that pose a potential harm to American consumers," he said. "Counterfeits like these defraud the user and are frequently inferior. They do not meet the quality standards of the real item.”

The counterfeit designer jewelry was headed from Hong Kong to Chicago, according to a release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Trade in counterfeit consumer goods is illegal in the United States and can result in fines of up to $2 million, 10 years in prison or both, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Thousands of fake Cartier, Tiffany pieces seized in Louisville

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