Owners of a Chinatown property dubbed the "Counterfeit Triangle" will pay the city a settlement of $800,000 for housing shops that sold fake purses, watches and jewelry, purportedly made by Fendi, Rolex, Tiffany and more. From now on the three-cornered area with addresses on Canal Street, Baxter Street, Centre Street and Walker Street will be home to only legitimate businesses (Starbucks offered one seller $12,000 a month for his corner storefront). "Property owners should know that they are responsible for what goes on in their buildings and that hosting illegal activity like counterfeiting is a losing proposition," said Mayor Bloomberg in a statement. more ›

A Bronx man was arrested after selling a jeweler a cheap watch. According to Newsday, "serial counterfeiter" Ian Kosloff of the Bronx went to H.L. Gross & Brothers, saying he needed to sell a $20,000 Patek Philippe timepiece and even had a receipt. The jeweler gave him a $12,500 check, but then found "the inside of the watch was not Swiss-made Patek Phillippe -- but a nearly worthless Japanese imitation." The jeweler tried to cancel the check, but it was already cashed. Kosloff, who claims "caveat emptor," is being held on felony charges but a Garden City detective did admit to Newsday that the jeweler could have been more careful, pointing out that if he had called the number for the supposed Boston store where the watch was bought, "It's actually a woman talking in a thick Bronx accent." more ›