Furniture Maker, Executives to Pay $5.2 Million to Settle AD Duty Evasion Case
A furniture importer and its executives will pay more than $5.2 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit on their alleged evasion of antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture by way of misclassification as metal furniture, the Justice Department said in an April 14 press release. Blue Furniture Solutions and its successor, XMillenium, will pay $4,679,987 of that total, while former CEO Yingqing Zeng will pay $460,000 and former CFO Alex Cheng $90,000 to resolve their personal liability, DOJ said.
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DOJ, which joined University Loft Company in the suit (see 1708150066), alleged that Blue Furniture classified its furniture on entry documentation as metal household furniture under tariff schedule subheadings 9403.20.0018 and 9403.20.0020. The furniture actually consisted of bedroom sets, including dressers, beds and nightstands, made of wood and classifiable in subheading 9403.50.9080 as wooden bedroom furniture, and subject to AD duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China.
Blue Furniture also allegedly “manipulated images of their products in packing lists and invoices, and directed their Chinese manufacturers to ship furniture in mislabeled boxes and to falsify invoices to help the defendants avoid detection by authorities in the United States,” DOJ said. The case was filed in the Western Texas U.S. District Court.
Zeng and Cheng pleaded guilty in 2019 in a criminal case in the South Carolina U.S. District Court. Each was sentenced to time served, plus two years of supervised release, according to documents associated with the case.