16 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 23, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Cynthia Nixon talks at Queens senator’s
community breakfast in Jamaica
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Dozens of faith-based leaders gathered
in Jamaica on Aug. 17 for state Senator
James Sanders’ monthly Community
Clergy Breakfast at Bethel Gospel
Tabernacle Church.
Cynthia Nixon, the current Democratic
Party challenger to Governor Andrew
Cuomo and former actress, served as the
guest speaker. She spoke on a number of
topics, including education, criminal justice
Dozen Qns. residents pinched in fake goods smuggling scheme
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Federal agents arrested 12 Queens
residents on Th ursday connected to
a major smuggling ring that illegally
imported millions of dollars in counterfeit
luxury goods from China.
According to federal prosecutors,
the ring worked to bring in fake merchandise
— including knockoff Louis
Vuitton handbags, Michael Kors wallets
and Chanel perfume — across the
Pacifi c through ports on the East and
West Coasts. Th ey then arranged for
the goods to be trucked to self-storage
facilities in Brooklyn, Queens and Long
Island, where the items were offl oaded
and stored for later sale.
To cover their tracks, U.S. Attorney
Richard Donoghue said, the collaborators
— including 10 additional New
York residents — falsifi ed customs
paperwork and used burner phone
numbers or email accounts to conceal
their true identities.
“As alleged, the defendants used many
forms of deception to smuggle large
quantities of counterfeit luxury brand
goods from China into the United
States, and then profi ted by distributing
and selling the fake merchandise,”
Donoghue said. “Th is offi ce, working
with our law enforcement partners, is
committed to securing our country’s
ports of entry, as well as to protecting
the integrity of intellectual property
upon which free and fair international
trade and markets depend.”
Of the 22 total defendants named
in six indictments and one criminal
complaint, four of them — including
Bayside’s Yu Ming Wong —
acted as shipping container importers.
Prosecutors said that the importers
fraudulently used the names, addresses
and other information of legitimate
importers to obtain the necessary
paperwork to bring in trailers of counterfeit
goods. Th ey also allegedly falsifi
ed the descriptions of the containers’
contents in order to keep the cargo
coming in.
Federal agents said that Wong and the
other three importers allegedly smuggled
or attempted to smuggle 23 shipping
containers of counterfeit items —
each 40 feet in length — into the U.S.
Authorities estimated that the goods
had a street value, where they genuine
articles, would have been worth in
excess of $450 million.
Fift een other suspects — including
Queens residents Xue Wei Qu, Xi
Quan Huang, Yun Lei Huang, Yun Wu
Huang, Cheng Xu Yu, Jin Hua Zhang,
Yong Lin Dong and Cai Ying Lin —
allegedly acted as wholesale distributors
in the ring. Th ey would sell the imported
counterfeit goods to wholesale and
retail vendors in New York, California
and other parts of the country.
Finally, three Queens residents —
Wei Mei Gao, Sheng Miao Xia and Jie
Mei Chen — served as domestic shippers,
using private shipping companies
that they controlled to distribute the
smuggled goods. Prosecutors said they
also arranged for payments to wholesale
goods distributors.
All 22 defendants were variously
charged with conspiracy to traffi c, traffi
cking in counterfeit goods, conspiracy
to smuggle, smuggling, money laundering,
immigration fraud and unlawful
procurement of naturalization.
reform and economic development,
and how her proposed initiatives could
impact the southeast Queens area.
“Your vote is an investment,” said
Sanders, who has not endorsed any candidate
for governor as of yet. “You have to
ask yourself, ‘How is the rate of return on
my investment? Is it suffi ciently benefi ting
the community?’ If it isn’t, then you have
to consider looking at who is the manager
of your investment.”
Nixon began her talk by addressing the
fact that she isn’t accepting any donations
from corporations and real estate developers,
stating that she “does not want to be a
part of what she considers a corrupt culture
in Albany.”
Nixon also stated that she wants to
ensure that everyone pays their fair share
of taxes including millionaires and corporations.
She then went on to discuss her main
platform, entitled “Schools not Jails,”
which looks to fully fund schools across
the state so that all youth have a chance
to attend a pre-K program and later the
opportunity to go to college for free,
whether they wish to learn a trade or study
in a diff erent academic fi eld.
In regards to Minority and Women-
Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs),
Nixon stated that she would raise the state
goal for contracts to these companies from
30 percent, which is currently the highest
in the nation, to 35 percent.
“I will work with you as governor and
make sure that JFK provides tremendous
benefi ts to local communities,” Nixon
said. “Th e fi rst thing I will do on JFK is to
come here to southeast Queens and meet
with the community to hear about local
needs and local concerns and local priorities.
In my administration these needs will
be central to the redevelopment of JFK.”
A supporter of the DREAM Act and
the Liberty Act, Nixon stated that she is
in favor of expanding access to driver’s
licenses to include undocumented immigrants,
saying that it’s “dangerous to have
people on the road who may not know
how to drive properly and this step would
help eliminate that.” It was also noted that
Nixon supports the legalization of the use
of recreational marijuana and the expansion
of dispensaries that distribute the
drug for medical purposes.
Sanders’ Community Clergy Breakfasts
tentatively take place on the third
Th ursday of each month from 8:30 to 11
a.m. Th e next one is scheduled for Sept. 13.
Photo by Andrea Elizabeth/Ocasio 2018
Ocasio-Cortez tries
to patch things up
after press ban
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Members of the media were reportedly
not welcome at Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall meeting in
Corona on Aug. 12.
According to a report by the Queens
Chronicle, Ocasio-Cortez had banned
press from attending the town hall,
which was open to the public.
Since her stunning win against
Congressman Joe Crowley back in
June, Ocasio-Cortez has been traveling
the country to rallies, appearing in
interviews for high-profi le magazines
and television shows such as “Th e Late
Show with Stephen Colbert.” She has
also been hosting a “listening tour”
throughout the district.
However, the Chronicle reported, it
was during a recent community meeting
in her home borough of the Bronx
when Ocasio-Cortez had an unpleasant
run-in with the press.
It was reported that while she was
meeting with healthcare activist Ady
Barkan, Ocasio-Cortez was slammed
with questions from reporters.
Reportedly there was no time scheduled
for one-on-one interviews or a
Q&A session at the meeting.
Th e interaction resulted in Ocasio-
Cortez prohibiting the media from taking
part in her town hall meetings in
the Bronx and Corona, which took
place on Aug. 8 and Aug. 12, respectively,
in order to create an environment
where the community would feel
comfortable to speak their minds freely
about the issues at hand.
Despite the media ban, members of
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign reportedly
told the Chronicle that they want to
maintain a “positive relationship with
area media outlets.”
On Friday aft ernoon, Ocasio-Cortez
took to Twitter to dismiss what she
called a “non-story,” saying that the
town hall “was designed to protect
+ invite vulnerable populations to
PUBLIC discourse: immigrants, victims
of domestic abuse, and so on.”
“We indicated previously that the
event would be closed to press. Future
ones are open,” she added.
Robert Pozarycki contributed to this
report.
Photo courtesy of the offi ce of State Senator James Sanders, Jr.
Senator James Sanders Jr., left, joins Cynthia Nixon, candidate for NYS Governor, Roderick Caesar III,
Senior Pastor of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle Church and Bishop Roderick Caesar, Overseer of Bethel
Gospel Tabernacle Church.
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