Viktors Suhorukovs, $4.5M Patent Trademark Mail Fraud, South Carolina 2024

Columbia, South Carolina — In a major blow to international scammers, Viktors Suhorukovs, a 37-year-old Latvian national, has been sentenced to 52 months in federal prison and ordered to pay over $4.5 million in restitution for his role in a multi-million-dollar patent and trademark mail fraud scheme.

The scheme, which lasted nearly three years, targeted holders of United States trademark registrations, with Suhorukovs and his companies, Patent and Trademark Office, LLC, and Patent and Trademark Bureau, LLC, sending out fake renewal notices that looked like they came from the official United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The notices, which contained a QR Code linking to the official USPTO website, directed the victims to sign and return the notice, leading them to unknowingly send renewal fees to Suhorukovs’ businesses. The scammer would then send the victims an invoice for the renewal service, charging inflated prices for the renewal of the trademark.

According to the evidence presented in court, Suhorukovs misrepresented the trademark registration’s expiration date and claimed he would renew the registration when, in fact, he could not lawfully file renewal documents on behalf of the registrants because he was not a licensed U.S. attorney.

Over 2,900 victims of the scheme have been identified, and Acting United States Attorney M. Rhett DeHart praised the collaborative effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the USPTO, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Greenville Police Department in bringing Suhorukovs to justice.

David S. Gooder, Commissioner for Trademarks at the USPTO, also commended the efforts of the law enforcement agencies involved in the case, stating that trademark filing scams are a growing international problem and that the USPTO is committed to protecting all users of its world-class trademark register.

United States District Judge Donald C. Coggins, Jr. handed down the sentence, which includes 24 months of supervised release. Suhorukovs is also ordered to pay $4,521,593.27 in restitution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Marosek prosecuted the case.

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