5 Treasure Valley Men Convicted in Counterfeit Phone Scheme

BOISE, Idaho (KLIX)-A federal jury found five men guilty Tuesday in a Boise courtroom of a counterfeit phone scheme worth millions of dollars. The five men, Pavel Babichenko, Piotr Babichenko, Timofey Babichenko, David Bibikov, and Mikhail Iyerusalimets were all accused of using Amazon.com and eBay.com to sell knock-off Apple and Samsung cellphones shipped from China during a ten year period based in the Treasure Valley, according to U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit. The men face 30 years behind bars for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit trademarked goods, wire fraud, mail fraud and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Two defendants were found not guilty by the jury. The defendants will be sentenced later in November. The men would buy bulk counterfeit phones and accessories and repackage them to be sold as new products online, even after being warned by U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection. The men even continued selling after the online markets shut down their accounts after learning they had been selling counterfeit products. The men would subvert the system and create new accounts under different names. The trial ended after nine weeks of testimony and evidence.

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