Imitation Nation

About Imitation Nation

Imitation Nation is a podcast that covers all things counterfeit, hosted by Shabbir Imber Safdar and Sven Bergmann.

Publisher

Imitation Nation

Category

health & fitness · true crime

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Dec 2024

Latest episode

28 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

52 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   28 Sept 2026

   Imitation Nation Podcast No 38 Counterfeit News VIDEO

   In this episode, we explore the latest developments in counterfeit pill presses, vinyl records, and counterfeit products, highlighting law enforcement efforts, legislative updates, and the importance of industry collaboration. Transcript: 00:00:00:03 - 00:00:23:03Speaker 1So in South Carolina, this guy walks into a Dollar General with counterfeit bills like bleached tens that they printed 50s on, and he tries to give them to the cashier to load them on to like an app for like a card. And the cashier looks at them, realizes they're fake, and says, I cannot accept these. And so guess what? 00:00:23:05 - 00:00:25:07Speaker 1Guess what? The guy says to the cashier. 00:00:25:08 - 00:00:26:22Speaker 2I don't know. 00:00:27:00 - 00:00:30:14Speaker 1Can I have those back? 00:00:30:16 - 00:00:43:19Speaker 1And the Dollar General cashier, who's probably seen everything because they're a Dollar General cashier, is like, no. And the guy goes to his car and and he's driving to Audie. One of the other employees walks out and takes a picture of the car and the license plate as he. 00:00:43:19 - 00:00:50:14Speaker 2Drives away. Yeah, it's not always the brightest bulbs that that do this. That's funny. 00:00:50:15 - 00:00:58:11UnknownThe Imitation Nation podcast covers all things counterfeit, hosted by Shabbir Amber Schaffner of the partnership for Safe Medicines and Sven Bergmann of Venture Global. 00:00:58:16 - 00:01:06:15Speaker 1All right, Sven, welcome back to Imitation Nation number 38. And one of my favorite topics is the first story. Guess what that is? 00:01:06:17 - 00:01:13:05Speaker 2Well, it's normally counterfeit money, but I don't think that's our first story. So peel presses. 00:01:13:07 - 00:01:14:14Speaker 1Is all Bill presents. 00:01:14:18 - 00:01:15:20Speaker 2So I thought. 00:01:15:22 - 00:01:46:10Speaker 1So often when you see someone who a law enforcement agency that has raided and playing this in drug lab, there's often a pill press in that drug lab, right? And sometimes it's made by a company called Elephant Machines. And LFA machines is one of the biggest, well, most well-known makers of pill presses in the world. And three of their longtime employees and executives just got indicted for six counts. 00:01:46:12 - 00:02:07:07Speaker 1Wow. As well as the company itself. They haven't been tried yet. They've just been indicted and I think arrested. So all of this, all of these accusations by the Department of Justice are alleged. But basically they said that they were knowingly selling pill presses to people that they knew were going to make counterfeit, controlled substance pills. 00:02:07:08 - 00:02:10:16Speaker 2Wow. That is incredible. 00:02:10:18 - 00:02:32:18Speaker 1This investigation has been going since 2019, and it was led by DEA Tucson in Arizona, which is also where the current administrator of the DEA, Shari Oz, was. She was a special agent in charge in Arizona of one of the officers. So that is. Yeah, good friend of ours. Good, good friend of of protecting Americans from fake pills. 00:02:32:18 - 00:02:50:18Speaker 1She has seen everything. Yeah. So they were due in court last week on the 23rd. I don't remember what I was doing that day, but I was not paying attention to it. And the DOJ has been very clear that they have recovered their machines from clandestine drug labs all over the world. 00:02:50:23 - 00:03:16:06Speaker 2Wow. And okay, that's you don't have any speechless often, but because you and I have talked about pill presses a lot. Right. And so normally it's the like, oh, yeah, those are some makers in China. And, you know, they're hard to get. That's the first like executives, which I believe are U.S. executives. So what exactly is the government alleging they did that led to this indictment and arrest? 00:03:16:07 - 00:03:38:15Speaker 1So there's not a lot of detail in the complaint. But if you look at it, they talk about that LFA had a do not sell to list and that somehow they ca

2. 

   28 Sept 2026

   Imitation Nation Podcast No 38 Counterfeit News AUDIO

   In this episode, we explore the latest developments in counterfeit pill presses, vinyl records, and counterfeit products, highlighting law enforcement efforts, legislative updates, and the importance of industry collaboration. In this episode, we explore the latest developments in counterfeit pill presses, vinyl records, and counterfeit products, highlighting law enforcement efforts, legislative updates, and the importance of industry collaboration. Transcript: 00:00:00:03 - 00:00:23:03Speaker 1So in South Carolina, this guy walks into a Dollar General with counterfeit bills like bleached tens that they printed 50s on, and he tries to give them to the cashier to load them on to like an app for like a card. And the cashier looks at them, realizes they're fake, and says, I cannot accept these. And so guess what? 00:00:23:05 - 00:00:25:07Speaker 1Guess what? The guy says to the cashier. 00:00:25:08 - 00:00:26:22Speaker 2I don't know. 00:00:27:00 - 00:00:30:14Speaker 1Can I have those back? 00:00:30:16 - 00:00:43:19Speaker 1And the Dollar General cashier, who's probably seen everything because they're a Dollar General cashier, is like, no. And the guy goes to his car and and he's driving to Audie. One of the other employees walks out and takes a picture of the car and the license plate as he. 00:00:43:19 - 00:00:50:14Speaker 2Drives away. Yeah, it's not always the brightest bulbs that that do this. That's funny. 00:00:50:15 - 00:00:58:11UnknownThe Imitation Nation podcast covers all things counterfeit, hosted by Shabbir Amber Schaffner of the partnership for Safe Medicines and Sven Bergmann of Venture Global. 00:00:58:16 - 00:01:06:15Speaker 1All right, Sven, welcome back to Imitation Nation number 38. And one of my favorite topics is the first story. Guess what that is? 00:01:06:17 - 00:01:13:05Speaker 2Well, it's normally counterfeit money, but I don't think that's our first story. So peel presses. 00:01:13:07 - 00:01:14:14Speaker 1Is all Bill presents. 00:01:14:18 - 00:01:15:20Speaker 2So I thought. 00:01:15:22 - 00:01:46:10Speaker 1So often when you see someone who a law enforcement agency that has raided and playing this in drug lab, there's often a pill press in that drug lab, right? And sometimes it's made by a company called Elephant Machines. And LFA machines is one of the biggest, well, most well-known makers of pill presses in the world. And three of their longtime employees and executives just got indicted for six counts. 00:01:46:12 - 00:02:07:07Speaker 1Wow. As well as the company itself. They haven't been tried yet. They've just been indicted and I think arrested. So all of this, all of these accusations by the Department of Justice are alleged. But basically they said that they were knowingly selling pill presses to people that they knew were going to make counterfeit, controlled substance pills. 00:02:07:08 - 00:02:10:16Speaker 2Wow. That is incredible. 00:02:10:18 - 00:02:32:18Speaker 1This investigation has been going since 2019, and it was led by DEA Tucson in Arizona, which is also where the current administrator of the DEA, Shari Oz, was. She was a special agent in charge in Arizona of one of the officers. So that is. Yeah, good friend of ours. Good, good friend of of protecting Americans from fake pills. 00:02:32:18 - 00:02:50:18Speaker 1She has seen everything. Yeah. So they were due in court last week on the 23rd. I don't remember what I was doing that day, but I was not paying attention to it. And the DOJ has been very clear that they have recovered their machines from clandestine drug labs all over the world. 00:02:50:23 - 00:03:16:06Speaker 2Wow. And okay, that's you don't have any speechless often, but because you and I have talked about pill presses a lot. Right. And so normally it's the like, oh, yeah, those are some makers in China. And, you know, they're hard to get. That's the first like executives, which I believe are U.S. executives. So what exactly is the government alleging t

3. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Imitation Nation Podcast No 37 Counterfeit News Video

   In this episode, Shabbir and Sven explore the complexities of counterfeit products, focusing on airbags and luxury watches. They discuss the challenges faced by online marketplaces in verifying authenticity and the broader implications for safety and brand integrity. Transcript: shabbir (00:01)Sven welcome to episode number thirty seven, a prime number I'd point out of Imitation Nation. Sven (00:08)Okay. That that took me a second to think, but yes, that is a prime number. happy Friday. How are you? shabbir (00:13)I'm good. I usually try and Sven (00:14)Okay. shabbir (00:15)pretend that I take Fridays off. I clearly never take Fridays off. But I am dressed down as if I am taking Friday off. In the sweatshirt of my daughter's high school, which is for all of us of a certain age, it's a fame high school, like from the TV shows. So she spends half Sven (00:31)Nice. shabbir (00:32)her day playing cello. Sven (00:33)That's lovely. That actually was an excellent movie, side note. So today today is today is the 80s movie day. I reminded Stacy, one of our team members, today on some good 80s movie she should watch with everything developing in AI, I recommended she watch War Games. I don't know if you remember that movie with Matthew Broderick. Just shabbir (00:52)Yes. Sven (00:53)stuff just becoming really real. And I'm like, you might want to watch that because that's it's very, very relevant right now. So shabbir (00:59)The only shabbir (01:00)winning move is not to play. Sven (01:02)There you go, good quote, shabbir (01:03)Ha ha ha. Sven (01:04)like it. Well good to see you, sir. shabbir (01:08)Good to see you and good to see us both in our home. I think we just recorded an episode recently from you in a hotel room in Colorado, which was a very scenic warm lamp you had, just like the one you have in your office. Sven (01:19)That was lovely, yeah. No, and and this is one of the few where I'm not travelling. Starting next week it's gonna be it's gonna be a wild three months of travel. shabbir (01:29)Yeah. I Sven (01:30)So you will see me Sven (01:31)in lots of unusual spots during our recordings, I think. shabbir (01:35)I I am going to be traveling to visit with pa a patient victim next week and try and get her story on camera. And remains to be seen if I will be traveling internationally for more peptide victims, but we're finding them all over the world. People I'll just say this, we're not gonna do a whole story on this, but don't be taking those unapproved by the FDA peptides. That is not safe. Sven (01:58)no. Sven (01:59)No, and as as you and I talked about, because you you told me about this, I started researching it, and so I started researching it on my social media platforms. And because these algorithms now think that I like this or I'm looking for that, my entire social media feed is now full of this. And it is scary what's out there. So yeah, don't don't don't take any of this unapproved stuff. It's crazy. shabbir (02:24)So I want to start talking about airbags because Sven (02:29)Okay. shabbir (02:30)we have talked a lot about airbags, we talked about the big jury settlement, the big award, wrongful Sven (02:37)Mm-hmm. shabbir (02:38)death suit. In that case, the airbag was sold on eBay. And eBay responded this week by banning the sale of airbags on its platform. Not surprisingly. Sven (02:51)I'm I'm sure it's complete Sven (02:52)completely uncorrelated. I'm sure it's completely uncorrelated. shabbir (02:57)So this takes effect September twenty-fourth. eBay will probi prohibit the sale of all airbags and airbag inflators after a series of fatalities. I think we have nine or ten deaths in the US that have been traced to counterfeit airbags and the six hundred and three million dollar wrongful death verdict. The one young woman with children who don't have a mother anymore. the lawsuit did name eBay. I don't know if that was the deciding factor, but eBay has not shabbir (03:25)eBay is not what I would cal

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

30

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

10

Social presence

0

YouTube

63

Engagement

32

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