Virginia Men Face U.S. Trial In Peddling of Phony Purses

Travis Johnson said he walks by sidewalk vendors selling counterfeit handbags every day on his way to work -- at the anti-counterfeiting coalition -- on K Street between Connecticut Avenue and 18th Street NW. "There's a perception that big, wealthy companies can put up with a few knockoffs," said Johnson, the coalition's general counsel. "It's not really seen as doing major harm."

Purse parties began in New York City 10 to 15 years ago and gradually spread, experts say. Some are advertised in the suburbs through mass e-mailings. Many who attend them believe they are getting either a good fake or stolen property, according to experts on counterfeiting.

The parties that Stypula attended in 2005 were elaborate open houses, with free wine and tables of shrimp dip, casseroles and a variety of appetizers. The woman who ran the Arlington party had made a business out of it, and her husband had even quit a lucrative job to work with her, Stypula said.

Stypula said that competition for the best bags was fierce and that she clung to the two Prada knockoffs she wanted so no one would grab them away. She and several friends chatted at the party about whether something was amiss.

"I said why would her husband quit his job when this is such a phony business and people could theoretically go down for selling knockoffs," Stypula said. "I know you can't get a Prada bag for $40 or $45, so you know these are hot from somewhere."

In fact, handbags by Prada and some other designer labels, including Gucci, sell for anywhere from hundreds of dollars to more than $2,000 each.

The parties apparently have grown less frequent in Northern Virginia as word has spread about the Ohri case.

After an anonymous tip from a purse partygoer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided one of the homes in 2003 and then found the trove of purses at the Ohris' warehouse in Lorton. It took more than 10 agents, working full time, a month to count and catalogue the merchandise.

Agents also found more than 100 phony Kate Spade labels in a desk drawer at the warehouse, court documents say.

The Ohris, of Fairfax, were indicted last year. They could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Lalit Ohri is a retired lieutenant colonel in the army of India who started his business, now called Sonya Handbags, in the early 1990s by selling leather goods at Eastern Market in the District, Ginsburg said. As business grew, he expanded to malls, and by 2003, there were kiosks operating under the name Sonya Handbags in 13 malls in Virginia, Maryland and the District, including Fair Oaks Shopping Center in Fairfax and Columbia Mall.

Court documents say the Ohris were told by some malls to stop selling counterfeit goods but ignored the warnings. But Suzette Timme, general manager of the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, where the family operated two kiosks, said mall security never noticed any problem.

"They were just selling generic bags with no labels," Timme said.