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The haul of counterfeit swag sprawled across 15 feet of prime display table in a Midtown Manhattan hotel.
Stacks of football jerseys, with the names of stars like Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson. Heaps of knit watch caps, embroidered with the fierce-beaked bird logo of the Seattle Seahawks, or the strapping, bucking horse of the Denver Broncos. T-shirts and baseball caps, propped against boxes that were marked “Homeland Security EVIDENCE.”
That was just a taste of at least 202,000 items seized by federal agents in recent weeks because they had bogus National Football League trademarks. The rest will remain in warehouses until it is no longer needed as evidence, said John Sandweg, the acting director of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.
And then?
“Then it is destroyed,” Mr. Sandweg said.
With much of the country in the steeliest grip of winter, Mr. Sandweg was asked if there weren’t better uses for the clothing than shipping it to industrial shredders or incinerators.
“It’s counterfeit — what else can we do with it?” Mr. Sandweg said.
He added: “We are required to destroy it by law.”
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shaun james bockert 