Long Island boutique owner charged in $40M fake designer scam maintains innocence

A Long Island boutique owner accused of running a $40 million scam where Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada labels were ironed onto cheap clothing and then passed off as designer goods is maintaining her innocence. 

Lindsay Castelli Bullock, 31, who owns Linny's Boutique in Plainview, New York, was arrested in October on counterfeiting charges after her store was raided by cops. 

She has now been evicted by the store's landlord.

The mother-of-four appeared in court on Thursday with her husband, Andrew Bullock, by her side. When approached by DailyMail.com, her lawyer, John Shea, said his client was 'looking for the day for the truth to come out honestly.'

Lindsay Castelli Bullock, 31, who owns Linny's Boutique in Plainview, New York, was arrested in October on counterfeiting charges after her store was raided by cops 

Castelli standing with her husband, Andrew Bullock, and attorney, John Shea, after her appearance at the Nassau County courthouse on Thursday 

'She maintains her innocence and has to go through this process,' he said.  

Shea claimed the charges against his client were bogus and that Castelli is being charged with creating 'T-shirts that incorporate a registered trademark.' 

Police claim Castelli had 22 printing press machines in her store, which she used to create the fake labels and then heat-seal them on garments with an iron. 

'They would take a hat, a $3 hat or a 50-cent item on the side here, and they would seal it onto the hat and sell it for $300,' Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at the time.    

Cops said the combined value of the counterfeit clothing would have been $40 million had Castelli managed to convince her customers they were genuine. 

In addition to her sparse retail store, Castelli also allegedly ran the scheme through a private Facebook group called Shop Linny's, which had 5,000 members.

Once approved to join, prospective shoppers were bombarded with statuses showing Castelli modeling what she claimed to be designer gear while encouraging them to snap it up. 

Cops began probing her business in April 2021.

They called in United States Postal Inspectors to help with the investigation, which likely involved packages being seized so their contents could then be evaluated to see if they were genuine. 

Castelli now faces jail time, but Shea said the allegations she passed off cheap goods as designer items and sold them for as much as $5,300 'came out of thin air.'

'She appears to be accused of something that - she is, in fact - is not even accused of doing . . .  It really comes down to the articles of T-shirts and whether or not they incorporate a registered trademark,' he said.

'It is not like fake pocketbooks or anything - like what you would normally associate with high end items, shoes . . . nothing. 

'It is really T-shirts and sweatshirts, sort of creative T-shirts. If you go on the website and look at them, I think there are 4,500 T-shirts, 99 percent of them were like 'Happy Halloween' and some just run-of-the-mill stuff.  And they are arguing [the merchandise] incorporate, in their opinion, some type of designer logo. We don't believe that. That is to be determined.'

Castelli has now been forced to shut Linny's boutique after the landlord evicted her. 

Linny's boutique has been gutted. All the merchandise, clothing racks were gone and only an empty clothing display, a vase with peacock and neon Linny's sign remained 

The mother-of-four from Smithtown poses in one of her designer tees on the floor of where her Plainview store, Linny's, was located before it closed down earlier this month 

When DailyMail.com went to Linny's in Morton Village Plaza, the boutique once brimming with racks of trendy clothes, shoes and accessories was bare. 

All that was left were a few empty racks, a vase with an oversized peacock feather in it and the Linny's neon pink sign that hung near where the register was located.

An anonymous source told DailyMail.com that U-Haul trucks unloaded 'massive amounts of clothes racks' at her home earlier this week. 

Castelli was probed for 18 months by federal prosecutors; in that time she purchased a $2.1 million home. It's unclear whether she used the proceeds from the alleged crime for the purchase.

She also took several lavish vacations this year - to Aruba, St. Thomas and the Bahamas. In April, she posted 'Happy Easter from Aruba with photos of her children with the Easter Bunny.

'He is risen + we are blessed beyond beyond what we could have ever imagined,' she wrote.

A month earlier, she can be seen in photos taken at the Ritz-Carlton in St Thomas. 

Castelli posted on her Facebook - where many of the photos have since been removed - a photo of her four children during in Aruba trip the family took during Easter

Castelli and her husband posing on the beach

But Castelli's high-life came to an abrupt end on October 4, when authorities raided her store. There, Nassau County detectives are said to have found 22 printing press machines used to create the fake labels. 

Nearby were knockoff items of clothing and jewels Bullock is said allegedly passed off as being genuine Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Dior, Ugg and Louis Vuitton.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the boutique also sold items online under the name Christian Salvatore New York. He said the combined value of the items was over $40 million. 

In retail, more than $10 million in Chanel, approximately $4.5 million in Gucci, and more than $25 million in fake Louis Vuitton were seized, he said.

Further investigation revealed the items were being shipped all over the United States.

'The store contained thousands of heat-sealed synthetic counterfeits of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, Dior and labels purchased from China,' Ryder said, in what police described as 'thousands of pounds' of confiscated shirts and hats, sweaters, hats and printing machines.

On October 7, Bullock surrendered to Nassau County Asset Forfeiture Detectives. She was released on a desk appearance and was due back in court on November 2 at First District Court in Hempstead.   

Nassau County Lieutenant and PIO Richard LeBrun told DailyMail.com days after her arrest that the probe, titled 'Operation Rainfall,' started 18-months ago.

During the search, detectives removed 22 printing press machines and various counterfeit items labeled from Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Dior, Ugg, and Louis Vuitton

At this time, it is not clear if Bullock was operating the multimillion dollar scheme on her own or with others. 

'It's still part of the investigation to determine if there will be more arrests,' LeBrun said.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said 'this was not a mom-and-pop operation.'

'This was a sophisticated operation that operated two fashion good companies,' she said. 

US Postal Inspector Glen McKechnie said the counterfeit products were shipped and sold across the country through two company websites maintained by Castelli. 

'Not only did it mislead the retail industry, but it also misled postal customers who ultimately have to bear the costly burden,' he said.   

On August 9, Bullock posted some of her new arrivals that included high-fashion boots, shoes, sneakers. Cops say they were all counterfeit

The day after the announcement, DailyMail.com went to Castelli's sprawling home on Colonial Drive in Smithtown, which sources say she only moved into a year ago.

The 5,300-square-foot home is set back on the quiet-tree lined block, has two goldfish koi ponds, a three-car driveway - a black Escalade, white Audi SUV and white Ford Explorer - and a mat at the front of the door that says: 'Come in if you have wine.' 

When DailyMail.com went twice to speak with Castelli, no one answered the door, but a child was heard crying in the background.

Many painted a picture of an 'entitled and self-centered' person who didn't care about anyone but herself, saying they weren't surprised upon hearing the news of her alleged scheme.

'She has been to Aruba in one year at least five times. How do you not think you are going to get caught when you do stupid things like that? How do you do this to your kids. And how as a husband do you not stop her,' an anonymous said. 

'I'm curious - they raided her store but why not the house? When they raided Mar-a-Lago they tore the place up. Wouldn't you keep your piles of money in the house?' 

Castelli's children ranging in age from 3 to 11 years old.

'My heart goes out to the kids. It's not their fault,' one person said.

When they first moved to the area, a source said she gifted Castelli flowers, and a bottle of wine with a welcome note, she later found the flowers sitting on top of her garbage can sitting at the end of the driveway.

'No kidding,' they said. 'She never acknowledged them.'

Others spoke about Castelli's over-the-top parties at her massive home that features five bedrooms, seven baths, a pool house and basketball court - which included blasting loud raunchy music all hours of the night.

The $2.1 million home Castelli purchased within the last year features five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, an in-ground pool, pool house and basketball court

'The parties every weekend.' said one person. 'When my daughter had COVID and was pregnant they did not give a shit.'

In December, Castelli reportedly threw a Christmas party that was so massive the local fire department came. And, in May she threw a 'White Party' to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend.    

'Everyone called the cops,' they said. 'It was awful. It went to 3am. Everyone was screaming with the microphones.'

In between the pleasure trips and partying, Castelli and her husband, Andrew Bullock, who reportedly is involved in the family's construction business, are rumored to have collected on the government's COVID-relief loans for small businesses, according to an undisclosed source.

'You have the nerve to make that type kind money and you are taking away from people who really need it,' the source said.

Castille's next court date is December 14.