New Mexico couple plead guilty to selling Vietnam-made jewelry as Navajo
TÓNANEESDIZÍ
A New Mexico couple who ran an Albuquerque wholesale jewelry company pleaded guilty in federal court April 20 to importing jewelry from Vietnam and selling it to American buyers as authentic Navajo and Native American handmade work, capping an undercover operation in which agents bought thousands of dollars of the counterfeit pieces at North Carolina trade shows.
Kiem Thanh Huynh, 60, and My Ngoc Truong, 61, the co-owners of MT Jewelry Mfg. Inc. of 1915 San Mateo Blvd. NE in Albuquerque, agreed to forfeit $341,967.98 in proceeds and entered the pleas before U.S. Magistrate Judge W. Carleton Metcalf in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The case was filed in the Asheville Division. Both defendants were released on conditions pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled, after the government did not seek to detain them. Objections to acceptance of the pleas are due May 4.
To read the full article, please see the April 30, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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