Anthony Kaufman, 48, from Bury - the mastermind behind the money-making scam - has been sent down for 27 months and will also serve an extra 12 months behind bars for breach of an earlier suspended sentence for blackmail.
Gregg Baines, 24, from Latchford, who acted as one of the team's sales managers, was jailed for 12 months.
Mark Glover, 24, from Maitland Avenue, Chorlton, who played a lesser role within the organisation, was jailed for nine months.
Who else has been locked up in November? Sentences and photo gallery
A fourth man - Paul Miller, 25, from Darlington, who worked within the group for only a matter of weeks - was ordered to serve 150 hours' unpaid work within the community.
All four men had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell fake designer clothes bearing the logos of famous makers, and to acquire and transfer criminal property.
Sentencing them at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court Judge Jonathan Geake told them: "Dealing in counterfeit goods is, in effect, stealing from genuine owners.
"There are legitimate commercial businesses which invest substantial sums of money to develop and market high-quality products. These same businesses are significant employers, and they are entitled to the protection of the law."
In passing sentence the judge said he wanted to commend all those involved in bringing the prosecution, for the hard work they had put in.
Sentencing Kaufman, he said: "This was not just a modest and amateurish operation, but a quite sophisticated venture which saw a turnover of around a quarter of a million pounds.
"You were the ringleader. You sourced goods, acquired sales teams, and had access to all or most of the accounts. You also arranged storage facilities, were responsible for despatch, and even knew how to minimise complaints."
The massive scam was cracked by Salford Trading Standards after Kaufman had unwittingly sold a fake Stone Island jacket to a buyer who worked for the real company. He alerted Trading Standards - which led to a two-year investigation costing £200,000.
Tens of thousands of pounds of bogus clothing was sold on eBay, and the court had been told that goods worth £470,000 were seized from storage units in both Bury and Salford.
Kaufman was seen posting out ordered clothing from post offices at Parr Lane and Brandlesholme Road near to his home in Bury, and was later linked to the storage facilities where the bogus goods were kept.
Joe Murphy, the Salford councillor with responsibility for Trading Standards, said: "These traders earned big money by cheating customers into buying fake goods and it's our job to help protect innocent people against bogus traders.
"Our officers put in a lot of hard work to break this ring of counterfeit traders which has paid off with excellent results and it's a strong message to other traders that we are successful in what we do and will not tolerate illegal trading of any kind."
Who else has been locked up in November? Sentences and photo gallery Tweet
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Trading standards should take a walk down Cheetham Hill or Longsight. They would have a field day.
People who go to shops and market stalls where "designer" clothes and other products are being sold at vastly lower prices than the real McCoy most know that they are not getting the real McCoy and thus are not being "ripped off". It is a choice they make.
perhaps if they put more realistic prices on their goods people wouldnt have to buy fakes. £200 trainers, they,re avin a larf .
Well done Salford Trading Standards. Excellent job! Keep up the good work!
"Anthony Kaufman, 48, from Bury - the mastermind behind the money-making scam - has been sent down for 27 months and will also serve an extra 12 months behind bars for breach of an earlier suspended sentence for blackmail"
Again, well done Salford Trading Standards. Kaufman sounds like a right scumbag. I wonder what other crimes he would've committed if he hadn't been caught...? The judge was right to commend all those involved in bringing the prosecution for the hard work they had put in. Great story from a grateful Salford rate payer.
I blame Gordon Brown...
prisoners, save time when in jail by simply beating someone to a pulp, rather than making fake clothes
sheesh, the world has gone
Seems stange that people can beat the hell out of someone and put them in hospital and get off with community service but yet sell some dodgy jeans and get 27 months. i wonder if the sentences were to justify spending £200000 of public money on this investigation. what did they do buy several outfits a week for 2 years as 'test purchases'?
mark smith.
I totaly agree with you.
People buy kakes knowingly.
They wouldn't buy the genuine thing, too expensive.
The world is mad, especially the courts.
I've followed this case closely and it is blindingly clear to me that this was not a "gang" as your article states but a devious and manipulative person who targeted young students through his son's school and university contact to allow him to use their eBay accounts to extend his reach and range. The gains from this activtiy were not equally shared, Kaufman keeping the profit whilst paying a small commission to those he was using. These young student with no previous convictions and of previous good character face the prospect of spending Christmas in jail, whilst rapists and murderers walk free. Who are the true victims of this crime?
Whilst not condoning the sale of counterfeit goods, it is telling that as noted in court there was very little negative feeback from those who bought the goods. It was proven that the goods were imported by a limited company who continue to sell these goods on the high street. The only way that trading standards were able to determine the goods were not legitimate was via their batch number and not by any
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time!
it always surprises me how tunnel-vision some readers are with comments like 'no harm' or people know it's cheap fakes', i work for a company that has it's brand copied with fatal consequences outside of the UK. People are being fed counterfeit medicines in Africa and Asia and they don't work. Worringly the drugs have been stopped being imported here through the hard work of the Authorities. The scum peddling this stuff, whether its dvd, clothing, vodka or medicines want to turn out cheap rubbish for maximum profits. Lower end they are involved in benefit fraud costing ALL taxpayers money and top nd endangering lives, including human trafficking. People just think they are getting a good bargain! Good on Trading Standards and if it involves a lot of money then it's more than likely the legal teams you look at!
As a taxpayer it fills me with confidence that someone is trying to stop the scum prospering
I used to work around the corner from where these guys had their factory. It's amazing whats going on right under your nose without you knowing about it!
There is a huge difference in the impact of fake drugs and fake clothes and the impact on the victim. The goods on sale in this case were indistinguishable from the real items except for the batch code which didn't tally. They were sourced from the same importer who supplies legitimate goods to the high street. They were on sale in high street outlets. In all likelihood they were manufactured in the same factory in the far east as the legitimate goods. Trading Standards has not brought any case against the importer and I guess the factory is still making them. Action should be taken to go after the big fish who have made the big money from this rather than ruin the lives of the small fry who made pocket money by making their ebay account available to Kaufman. If the two year investigation had resulted in the disruption of global trade in counterfeit goods then this would have been a satisfactory result, but it all smacks of tokenism to me.
The amounts involved here seem small in comparison to the amounts ripped off by MP's fiddling their expenses and manipulating the system. Do the designer labels really need the courts to protect them so that they can make even more profit from the exploitation of third world countries and child labour. When are the courts going to protect the taxpayer and public funds from our elected representatives.
The same goods were on sale in Cheetham Hill and trading standards chose not to take an action. No action has been taken against the importer of the goods. And in all likelihood the goods were made in the same factory as the legitimate ones in the far east and no action has been taken there. Trading Standards has chosen to go after the small fry who were young students at the time and made peanuts from allowing someone to use their eBay account to sell the goods. And for this trading standards are trying to put them in gaol to send out a message to others. It is shameful that young lives can be ruined for an act of naivity where no one has been hurt in order to send out a political message to the public about trading on eBay. It is also shameful that trading standards allowed Kaufman to continue to sell the goods on eBay for 2 YEARS after they learnt about the origin, in which time more young people were duped by him into letting him use their eBay account and ruining their lives in the process. This is all about putting heads on poles and NOT justice.
My nephew, Gregg Baines, is now serving his 12 months in Strangeways. His prison term will pass much easier than the two years in which he's been nothing short of a nervous wreck. He made 'bugger all' out of his endeavours and just paid his daily living expenses. What does the future hold for him ??? A bright, jovial, loving and highly respectable young man with a criminal record.
Whilst chavs choose to wear so called "designer" names,there will always be a market for such stuff.
Wrote 12/11/2009
My already dwindling Faith in the Justice system has been has been so badly mottled with the sentences handed out to The alleged "Sales Managers" involved in this case, Anthony Kauffman was nothing more than a Glorified Groomer for students, who could of easily been your readers own children, students - Living on a pittance until this spineless bully of a man offers them a 'golden Carrot' of some drinking money for the weekend to digitally prostitute there own eBay accounts for his immoral gains whilst throwing the odd scrap from the masters table to dissuade there better judgment. These Boys, and I say boys because they were 19 and 20 when this devil crept his way in to there lives, are now currently serving the 1st Month of there 12 Months incarceration in one of Manchester’s Largest high profile, high security prisons, locked up with Rapist, Murderers and Fiends of every similar nature because people like Kauffman know exactly where to strike and how, Preying on the neediness of innocents. So please can you take a minute to consider the worried parents, friends and family of these boys who are still waiting to hear from them as they scramble through the system to contact the outside world, so that they simply can let us know that they are well and safe. 12 Months is really a life sentence for these boys who will lose there morally acquired homes and jobs for a mistake that was made 4 years ago. I just pray that no one else has to endure the worry and stress that has loomed like a black cloud over these boys heads for the last 2 years.