Federal agents were looking for knockoff military gear as part of an investigation into a distributor, called California Surplus, that had secured a $20 million contract to supply the U.S. military with specialized uniforms. They'd already recovered thousands of boxes of the stuff from a nearby New Jersey warehouse, according to court documents.
California Surplus, it turned out, was selling Chinese-made counterfeit goods designed to look like gear from one of the top military outfitters in America, Crye Precision. Crye's Brooklyn headquarters happened to be located just around the block.