A Johnson County judge has revoked the articles of incorporation of a company affiliated with a Chinese counterfeiter after finding it has abused its corporate powers under Kansas law. Attorney General Derek Schmidt says District Judge James F. Vano entered the default judgment in Johnson County District Court after the company failed to respond to a lawsuit filed by the attorney general’s office in July. According to the lawsuit, Koch Membrane Systems the Kansas corporation, was formed in 2018 for the sole purpose of using its name and Kansas registered corporate status to masquerade as part of Koch Industries, a well-known Kansas business. It used an address in Johnson County but had no physical office there or elsewhere in Kansas.

The lawsuit alleges Koch Membrane Systems in fact has no relationship to Koch Industries and instead appears to exist for the purpose of impersonating a real Koch subsidiary based in Massachusetts by using a nearly identical company name in order to provide false credibility to counterfeiting activities of its affiliate in China.