Staff Reports
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A husband and wife from New Mexico appeared in federal court in Asheville on April 20 and pleaded guilty to smuggling counterfeit Native American jewelry made in Vietnam and selling it to customers in the U.S. as authentic, according U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson.
Kiem Thanh Huynh, 60, and My Ngoc Truong, 61, pleaded guilty to misrepresentation of Indian goods in an amount greater than $1,000, in violation of the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act, and smuggling.
Meridith Stanton, Director of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the U.S. Department of the Interior, joined Ferguson in making the announcement.
“Those who profit by passing off counterfeit goods as authentic Native American items are not just deceiving buyers, they are exploiting culture and taking income from Native American artists and their communities,” Ferguson said. “Protecting the integrity of Native American art and heritage is vital to persevering Indian cultural traditions and economic opportunity.”
Stanton agreed with Ferguson’s sentiment.
“The Indian Arts and Crafts Board administers and enforces the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, a truth-in-marketing law,” Stanton said. “The Act is intended to rid the American Indian and Alaska Native (Indian) art and crafts marketplace of counterfeits in order to protect the economic livelihoods and cultural heritage of Indian artists and artisans and their tribes, as well as consumers. Authentic Indian art and craftwork is a critically important tool for the passage of cultural traditions, traditional knowledge, and artistic skills from one generation to the next.
According to filed documents and the plea hearing, Huynh and Truong co-owned MT Jewelry MFG., Inc. (MT Jewelry) located in Albuquerque. The business, marketed to wholesale customers, claimed on its website that it specialized “in creating unique and handmade southwestern jewelry.” Huynh and Truong traveled to trade shows throughout the U.S., including in Western North Carolina, where they allegedly sold their merchandise as authentic Native American jewelry.
Much of the jewelry sold by the defendants was reportedly not Indian produced or the product of an Indian tribe. Between December 2023 and July 2024, law enforcement intercepted six shipments from Vietnam that were destined for MT Jewelry. The shipments contained jewelry, including pendants, bracelets and rings, made in Vietnam to resemble Native American-style jewelry. The jewelry was adorned with unique stones and/or fish or wildlife products and were marked with inscriptions and other hallmarks commonly used by artists to authenticate their handicrafts. As importers of jewelry, Huynh and Truong failed to mark the items with country-of-origin or other commercially feasible markers to indicate they were imported before selling them.
In pleading guilty, the defendants admitted that, on two occasions, they attended GLW Shows in Western North Carolina where they sold counterfeit jewelry contained in shipments intercepted by investigators. Huynh and Truong falsely claimed that the jewelry was made by Native American artists at their shop in Albuquerque and that their workers were Navajo. As Huynh and Truong admitted in court, the defendants knew the jewelry they were selling was made in Vietnam by non-Indians and that they falsely sold these items as authentic Native American handicraft.
Huynh and Truong will remain out of custody pending sentencing. At sentencing they face a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison for the Indian Arts and Crafts Act violation and up to 20 years for the smuggling charge. They have agreed to forfeit almost $342 million, constituting the proceeds of their crimes.
