Two Southern California residents were sentenced to federal prison on Thursday for running a long-running scheme that defrauded Apple Inc. out of more than $16 million using counterfeit electronics, federal prosecutors announced.
United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. sentenced Wenhui Huang, 41, of Chino Hills, to 78 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $16,239,254 in restitution. Huang, identified as the operation’s ringleader and an undocumented immigrant, pleaded guilty in May 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions.
The group’s second-in-command, 39-year-old Yang Song of Corona, received a 57-month prison sentence and an order to pay $16,997,415 in restitution. Song pleaded guilty in June 2025 to 21 counts involving wire fraud, mail fraud, trafficking in counterfeit goods, and money laundering tied to an overseas fraud ring.
Court documents show that between December 2015 and March 2024, the conspirators smuggled counterfeit iPhones, iPads, and other products from China into the United States. The imitation devices were stamped with real identification and serial numbers belonging to genuine Apple products owned by real customers across North America. Because those authentic devices were covered under Apple’s standard warranty or AppleCare+, the fake serial numbers tricked the company’s systems into recognizing them as eligible for service.
The defendants took the fake devices to Apple stores across Southern California, often hitting up to 10 retail locations in a single sweep, including shops in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Irvine, and outdoor malls like The Grove in Los Angeles. Conspirators told store staff the electronics were broken, physically damaged, or would not power on.
Apple workers either swapped the broken items for authentic replacements on the spot or sent them off to regional repair centers. Replacement products were later picked up in stores or delivered to commercial mailboxes rented by the defendants across the region. Once in hand, the authentic Apple devices were shipped abroad, primarily to China, and resold for a profit.
Thursday’s hearings mark the final sentencings in the case, which resulted in six total convictions.
Earlier this week, Judge Birotte sentenced Corona residents Shuyi Xing, 36, to 38 months in prison and Yushan Lin, 32, to 18 months of home detention, ordering over $16 million in restitution from each. Court filings show Lin and Xing attempted to swap at least 1,584 counterfeit units, costing Apple more than $1.1 million. Two other co-conspirators—Zhengxuan Hu, 28, and Junwei Jiang, 39—were previously handed 24-month and 36-month prison terms.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Los Angeles Police Department.
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