Dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and ordered to forfeit $75,547, for his role in a scheme to illegally export controlled dual-use and military items to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, commit bank fraud and defraud the U.S. (see 2411010047).
The Court of International Trade affirmed Aug. 11 the Commerce Department’s decision to, in an antidumping duty administrative review, reject Chinese solar cell exporter Yingli China’s separate rate application even though its U.S. sales were conducted through an affiliate, Yingli Green Energy Americas, with separate ownership.
Importers' argument that the tariffs imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act don't arise out of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. "strains the statutory text past the breaking point," the government argued in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, D.C. Cir. # 25-5202).
Miad Maleki, former associate director of the Office of Foreign Asset Control's Office of Global Targeting, has joined Ferrari, the law firm announced Aug. 18. Maleki will help the firm "effectively advise its clients on their sanctions exposure; understand U.S. government expectations with regard to addressing sanctionable conduct; and overall augment the firm’s understanding of shifting U.S. government policies driving sanctions actions," it said. Maleki left OFAC earlier this month.
In an opinion made public Aug. 19, Court of International Trade Judge Mark Barnett affirmed the Commerce Department's decision to reject a separate rate application submitted by solar cell exporter Yingli Energy (China). He observed that the exporter's majority shareholder was a Chinese government agency. He also upheld Commerce's rebuttable presumption that exporters in nonmarket economies are government-controlled (Yingli Energy (China) Company Limited v. United States, CIT # 24-00131).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Exporters Maquilacero and Tecnicas de Fluidos on Aug. 13 opened a five-count case against the 2022-23 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Mexico. The companies challenged the Commerce Department's findings that products made by Tecnicas from light-walled rectangular tubing are within the scope of the order and the agency's decision to collapse Maquilacero and Tecnicas (Maquilacero S.A. de C.V. v. United States, CIT # 25-00176).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
CBP ruled an importer didn't provide enough documentation to qualify for first sale treatment, and that the middleman couldn't be considered a buying agent, either, because its relationship with the importer was a buyer/seller relationship.
Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier and U.S. citizen Bazile Richardson have been charged with violations of U.S. sanctions on Haiti, DOJ announced. Cherizier and Richardson were charged with "leading a conspiracy to transfer funds" from the U.S. to Cherizier to "fund his gang activities in Haiti in violation" of U.S. sanctions, DOJ said.