Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents seized several sandstone and bronze statues that were smuggled from India at storage units located in a facility in Manhattan. The storage units allegedly belong to Subhash Kapoor, the owner of Art of the Past Gallery. Along with the search warrant, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office issued an arrest warrant for Kapoor for allegedly possessing stolen property, ICE said.
The Court of International Trade approved amendments to its Rules for Review and Comment July 24, which are set to take effect on Sept. 3. CIT had proposed the amendments, which pertain to CIT Rule 54.1, for comment on April 13. CIT said it received no comments on the amendments, and adopted the proposal without change. The amendments to Rule 54.1 include, among other things, a requirement that applications for attorney’s fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act be filed within 30 days after the date of final judgment (the Rule previously stated that applications must be filed within 30 days after the court enters final judgment). A new sentence also says the 30-day statutory period for filing an application under the Equal Access to Justice Act begins to run after the expiration of the time period for filing an appeal. The amendments to rule 54.1 are available here.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned 11 stolen and looted cultural artifacts, including 10 Nok statues and one carved tusk, to the government of Nigeria. The items were seized by ICE special agents and CBP officers after the importers surrendered them. ICE cooperated with French authorities in the investigation. The artifacts were imported as “personal effects.”
A California man pleaded guilty July 26 in U.S. District Court, Chicago, to a felony charge of trying to illegally export missile components from the U.S. to Iran, via the United Arab Emirates. The defendant, Andro Telemi, 42, of Sun Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to export defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List without a license or approval from the U.S. Department of State in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan set sentencing for Oct. 30. Telemi faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison a $250,000 fine. Telemi, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran, also known as "Andre Telimi," and "Andre Telemi," was indicted in December 2009, along with co-defendant Davoud Baniameri, 39, of Woodland Hills, Calif. A superseding indictment in July 2010 charged Baniameri, Telemi and a third defendant, Syed Majid Mousavi, an Iranian citizen living in Iran. (See ITT's Online Archives [Ref.11060128]).
A Heber Springs, Ark., family and three others were indicted for distribution of synthetic narcotics, known as bath salts, imported from China, reported Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The bath salts in this case were manufactured in and imported from China and distributed to individuals in the Heber Springs area, primarily teenagers and young adults, ICE said.
An employee who works to repair marine containers is a maritime employee, even though he never goes to sea or loads or unloads ships, said an opinion by the Fifth U.S. Appeals Court, New Orleans. The decision upheld an administrative law judge's reasoning in a workmen's compensation case (New Orleans Depot Services V. Director, Office of Worker's Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor; New Orleans Marine Contractors; and Signal Mutual Indemnity Association Limited.
The Court of International Trade affirmed the International Trade Administration’s second remand redetermination of a scope determination for certain steel nails from China (A-570-909), and dismissed the case in its entirety. The original determination had excluded nails imported in home tool kits from the scope of the AD order. In response to a challenge by Mid Continent Nail Corporation, CIT had remanded the ITA’s determination in May 2011, finding that the ITA has applied contradictory approaches in cases where merchandise covered by AD orders is imported in kits with non-covered items. CIT then found fault with the results of the ITA’s first remand redetermination in March, saying that "[t]he nails in question …are unambiguously subject to the Final order,” and remanded again. In this affirmed second remand, the ITA found the nails to be in scope, but did not address application of a uniform test to products imported in kits. The ITA's remand redetermination is available here.
A southeast Texas man pleaded guilty Thursday of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit CHI hair care products, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement said. Eric White, an Internet seller of hair care products, admitted he imported and resold counterfeit CHI hair irons, which are manufactured by Farouk Systems, from April to September 2010, ICE said. White imported the counterfeit hair irons from China and sold them on the Internet through his company, Royal Cosmo. After three CBP seizures of White’s hair irons and a cease-and-desist letter from Farouk, ICE seized 147 counterfeit hair irons at White’s home in September 2010, it said. White faces up to five years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.
The U.S. Court of International Trade granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction in the case of Chrysal USA vs. the U.S. Chrysal had sought to challenge the tariff classification of "flower food" which was among the various products included in 17 entries of merchandise that Chrysal imported into the U.S. in 2008.
The Court of International Trade sustained the results of a remand redetermination of the final results of the 2005-06 administrative review of ball bearings and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom (A--427--801, A--428--801, A--475--801, A--588--804, A--559--801, and A--412--801). CIT said the International Trade Administration’s remand redetermination provided adequate explanations to address plaintiff SKF’s concerns that (1) by constructing normal value using the unaffiliated supplier’s costs of production SKF would be unable to adjust its pricing to avoid dumping or decrease its antidumping duty liability because it would lack knowledge of its supplier’s production cost data; and (2) the ITA would apply adverse facts available (AFA) if the unaffiliated supplier failed to provide cost data. The remand was pursuant to a 2011 ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.