Importer Sentenced for Skirting Duties on Jewelry Entries From Turkey, India
A resident of both India and New Jersey who operated jewelry companies in New York City was sentenced Jan. 23 to 30 months in prison for leading a scheme to evade customs duties on over $13.5 million of jewelry imports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced. Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and operating and aiding the operation of an "unlicensed money transmitting business."
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From around December 2019 to April 2022, Shah oversaw the customs avoidance scheme, telling his co-conspirators to first send jewelry from Turkey and India to one of his companies in South Korea. If shipped directly from Turkey or India, the goods would be subject to a 5.5% duty, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The co-conspirators in South Korea would alter the labels on the shipments to mark the country of origin as South Korea prior to shipping them to the U.S. Shah instructed his customers to "make fake invoices and packing lists to make it look like Shah’s South Korean companies were actually ordering jewelry from Turkey or India," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. It added that he told a third-party shipping company to give false information to CBP on the origin of the jewelry.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Shah also operated an illegal wire transfer scheme, through which he used his jewelry companies to "conduct more than $10.3 million in illegal financial transactions for customers -- including converting cash to checks or wire transfers."
In addition to sentencing him to 30 months in prison, the New Jersey court ordered Shah to pay $742,500 in restitution for the wire fraud scheme and forfeit more than $11.1 million for the wire fraud and unlicensed money transmitting schemes.