Owners of Furniture Importer Facing Federal Criminal Charges Over False Submissions

The owners of Blue Furniture are facing federal criminal charges for alleged evasion of antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture, according to an indictment filed Jan. 8 in the U.S. District Court for South Carolina. The owners, Yingquin Zeng and Alexander Cheng, are charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and entry of goods by means of false statements, the indictment said. The federal prosecutors allege that Zeng and Cheng imported wooden furniture through the Port of Charleston and knowingly submitted documents that "falsely represented the furniture being imported from China was not subject to anti-dumping duties." The Florida company was previously hit with a False Claims Act civil lawsuit over the alleged evasion (see 1708150066). That lawsuit, which is at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, was stayed until Jan. 31 due to the criminal grand jury investigation in South Carolina, according to a Jan. 3 court filing.