Feds Seize $39M in Fake Super Bowl Gear

An officially licensed Broncos jersey versus a fake 'Brondos' jersey; Image via Twitter

Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos (specifically Von Miller) won Super Bowl 50 over the momentum-fueled Carolina Panthers. This was Manning's record-breaking 200th career win, so with all of these round numbers here, we can practically see the "Peyton Manning: 200 career wins, Super Bowl 50 champion" merchandise now. Whatever company wants to use that idea (get at me), it just needs to get the official license of the NFL—otherwise it would be in big trouble.

We previously reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) has been on the lookout for bogus merchandise leading up to the big game. As of Thursday, according to Forbes, officials have seized an estimated $39 million in Super Bowl gear.

At a press conference last week, HSI reported that it had seized nearly 45,000 counterfeit team and game merchandise items and tickets.

Federal officials scoured different locations across the Bay Area (since the game was in Santa Clara, Calif.), such as flea markets, retail outlets and street vendors, looking for counterfeit items. According to SFBay.ca, officials nabbed approximately $1.5 million in counterfeit goods in San Francisco alone.

ICE officials announced last year that they had seized $19.5 million in counterfeit goods, and, the year before that, they seized $21.6 million. The investigation, dubbed "Operation Team Player," resulted in 41 arrests and 35 convictions.