Beauty supply store businessman fined $2.6 million for selling fake bleaching products

The operator of a beauty supply store in Spanish Town, St Catherine was today fined a total of $2.6 million in the parish court for selling counterfeit bleaching products.

Forty-year-old businessman Zhijia Zeng was fined $650,000 or six months imprisonment each on two counts of breaching the Trade Marks Act and $650,000 or six months imprisonment each on two counts of misleading and deceptive conduct.

He was found guilty of the offences following a trial.

"You failed to desist in selling goods although they were counterfeit, [you] did not plead guilty, you sold the goods and damage the consumer and putting persons' health at risk," presiding judge Nicole Kellier told the businessman when she was outlining the aggravated circumstances in the matter. 

"The mitigating circumstances are your good social enquiry report, your sound family upbringing, you have young children, and no previous conviction. Plus, the probation department recommended a non-custodial sentence," the judge added.

Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox

Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters.

She explained that the original fine that would have been imposed would have been higher on each count but said the businessman benefitted from a discount on each count thus the final figure of $2.6 million.

His attorney Shantel Jarrett successfully applied for time to pay and the businessman was granted one week.

The court heard that about 12:50 p.m. on November 25, 2020, members of the police's Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) conducted an operation in Spanish, Town St Catherine which saw the team descending on Aleka Beauty Supplies Limited located at French Street.

During the execution of a search warrant, the police discovered fictitious containers marked Neoprosone creme and lotion on display. 

The police seized 266 sachets and 831 tubes of the counterfeit items.

Following a further investigation, the businessman was arrested and subsequently charged.

He made numerous court appearances until he was tried and found guilty today.

- Rasbert Turner