Muhaned Abbas Mohamed, 26, of Greensboro, N.C., was sentenced to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release on July 16 for conspiring to smuggle goods from the U.S, according to a press release. Mohamed was also sentenced for conspiring to make a false and fictitious statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm from a licensed dealer, the press release said.
Missouri-based importer GuildMaster pleaded guilty July 15 in the Western Missouri U.S. District Court to trafficking in goods with counterfeit marks, after importing thousands of lamps from a manufacturer in China that bore fake safety certification labels. GuildMaster said it wasn’t directly involved, admitting only that its wholly-owned subsidiary was aware of the scheme. The company will be placed on five years of probation and will forfeit the seized lamps. CBP won’t seek penalties, but will lay claim to a $43,786 bond to cover its expenses.
The Court of International Trade sustained a scope ruling that found thermal paper jumbo rolls produced in a third country but converted to thermal paper ready for consumer use by Paper Resources in China to be outside of the scope of the antidumping duty order on lightweight thermal paper from China (A-570-920).
In a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case involving bribery in Thailand, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a jury doesn’t need to find financial loss to an identifiable victim in order for a judge to order restitution payments. A judge making that decision is enough, said Judge Alex Kozinski. The ruling affirmed a lower court order that Gerald and Patricia Green pay $250,000 in restitution for $1.8 million in bribes they paid while running the Bangkok International Film Festival. But the ruling left the door open to changes to the 9th Circuit’s handling of restitution cases in light of a recent Supreme Court decision.
The Court of International Trade remanded the rescission of a new shipper review on fresh garlic from China for Jinxiang Yuanxin Import & Export. Commerce had ended the proceeding because it found Yuanxin’s only sale under review wasn’t commercially bona fide and reviewable. The sales price was too high, the sales quantity was too low, and the sale was made under strange circumstances, Commerce said. The rescission had resulted in Yuanxin’s garlic continuing to be subject to the high China-wide rate. But the court found fault with Commerce’s decision to compare the price and quantity of Yuanxin’s sale of single-clove garlic to CBP data on imports of fresh whole garlic.
A U.S. district court rightfully dismissed a federal lawsuit against the Democratic Republic of the Congo for breach of contract because it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a July 2 opinion. Triple A International had sued the Congo in 2010 after the company did not receive some $14 million for military equipment sold to country's predecessor, Zaire. The district court ruled against Triple A, saying the Congo had sovereign immunity.
The Court of International Trade sustained the rescission of a new shipper review on uncovered innerspring units from China (A-570-928), finding reasonable Commerce’s decision to end the review, and keep Foshan Nanhai Jiujiang Quan Li Spring Hardware Factory and Foshan Yongnuo Import & Export subject to the China-wide rate. The companies had requested the new shipper review in an attempt to get their own lower separate rate. Commerce had said the sale up for review was too small and expensive to be a normal commercial sale. It also said the importer couldn’t get its story straight on the circumstances of the sale. Foshan challenged the quantity and value comparisons the agency used to find the sale abnormal, and put forward its own theory on what the importer was trying to say. But CIT said Commerce’s determination was reasonable, and supported by evidence.
Following an investigation by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), two Singaporean nationals on June 26 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The men, Hia Soo Gan Benson and Lim Kow Seng, illegally exported 55 military antennas from the U.S. to Singapore and Hong Kong through a Massachusetts company.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a challenge to the allocation of 2006 U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement funds. The agreement ended a countervailing duty order on softwood lumber from Canada by, in part, requiring Canada to distribute $500 million to the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports (CFLI). A group of non-CFLI domestic producers said compensating CFLI to the exclusion of other domestic producers is discriminatory, contrary to the underlying law, and improperly delegates distribution authority to the CFLI for funds that should have been distributed by the government. The Court of International Trade dismissed in April 2012 (see 12042048), and CAFC found the lower court was correct July 1. The distribution scheme had a rational basis for discriminating because it was meant to solve a trade dispute the CFLI was heavily involved in, CAFC said. And the underlying law was so broad as to give USTR the discretion to agree to distribution to CFLI. USTR didn’t delegate authority to CFLI to distribute the funds either, because it agreed to the distribution method, CAFC said.
The Court of International Trade again dismissed Hartford Fire Insurance Company’s attempt to void or discharge bonds securing duties on entries made by an importer that violated U.S. import laws. CIT previously dismissed some of the claims brought by Hartford (see 12081428), but had allowed the surety to amend its complaint to say CBP abused its discretion by not requiring the importer to post a cash deposit instead of a bond. CIT granted CBP's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.