Federal Jury Finds Chemical Importer Didn't Evade AD Duties

A chemical importer will not face penalties under the False Claims Act for an alleged antidumping duty evasion scheme, after a jury found in its favor in a trial at the Central California U.S. District Court. Unichem Enterprises and its owner, Tony Hang, were not proven to have violated the False Claims Act in a case brought by a whistleblower, David Ji, who based it on manifest data, the jury said. According to court documents, Ji had said Unichem imported glycine that its Chinese supplier helped it mislabel as glucosamine, which is not subject to AD/CV duties. Unichem and Hang had contended that Ji lacked enough evidence to prove his claims, and was pursuing the case “to put a competitor and former employee out of business.”