Italian Police Bust Counterfeit Cartridge Business

According to Lametino.it, the police in Lamezia Terme—a city in the Calabria region of southern Italy—recently conducted a raid called Operation Dark Ink in which they seized counterfeit inkjet and toner cartridges worth €900,000 (USD$1.18 million).

The raid was conducted at the request of prosecutors and local magistrates in a fraud case against six local businesses, two companies and another individual firm. Lametino.it reported that investigations revealed the fraud had been done through the misappropriation of European Union (EU) and national funds. €1.2 million (USD$1.58 million) of the funds had been obtained by producing spurious invoices for bogus operations, non-existent bank records and receipts, as well as other fictitious documents. €650,000 (USD$858,013) of this amount had already been spent.

Operation Dark Ink was launched in 2011 after an industrial plant in Martirano–a village in the region—was identified as a producer of counterfeit products. The plant manufactured infringing toner and inkjet cartridges shipped in boxes bearing the HP label.

Among the men facing criminal charges—including counterfeiting, tax fraud, forgery, fraud to the detriment of state competition, and fraud to the detriment of the state—were CEOs, Managing Directors (MDs) and Owners of the companies involved. They were: Paul D’Assisi, MD and CEO of Compcart a.r.l. and Ink Power s.r.l.; Stranges Giuseppina MD of Sengreen Italy s.r.l/; Stranges Vincent, owner of a construction and furnishing company; Giancarlo Talarico, MD of promo.Store s.r.l/; Ciliberto Claudio, Owner of Colorint Ciliberto of Claudius; Lucchino Pasquale, President of Board of Directors at Co.mi.t.el multimedia consortium; and Alessi Casimiro, MD of Alessi Inks Italy s.r.l.