2 Colorado Companies and Their Executives Charged With Criminal Tariff Evasion
Two Colorado companies and their top executives were indicted last month for conspiring to evade tariff payments on their imports of forklifts, DOJ announced on Sept. 30. The companies, Endless Sales and Octane Forklifts; current executives Brian Firkins and Jeffrey Blasdel; and former executive J.R. Antczak allegedly conspired to undervalue the forklifts from China at entry, then hide their Chinese origin and sell them to federal government agencies by declaring them to be made in the U.S.
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From around June 2018 to around June 2024, the companies and their executives allegedly conspired with an "unnamed Chinese national and a Chinese manufacturer" to draft fake invoices that undervalued the cost of the forklifts that the two companies imported. The indictment said the scheme led to over $1 million in unpaid tariffs, duties and fees.
Separately, Firkins, Blasdel and Antczak were charged with wire fraud charges, and Blasdel is charged with making false statements to the government, DOJ said.
In June 2018, the Chinese national met with Antczak and Firkins in Denver and "agreed that for customs clearance purposes," the individual would "submit false and fraudulent commercial invoices that typically valued the forklifts and forklift parts that" the Chinese business exported to the U.S. from China at 70% of the goods' actual cost. From 2018 to 2024, the Chinese company invoiced over $14 million for the purchase of forklifts and forklift parts.
The indictment said from 2018 to June 2024, the Chinese company provided, and the defendants caused the Chinese company to provide, "commercial invoices to the defendants and third parties employed by the defendants that falsely and fraudulently reflected a total value for said merchandise which was less than the purchase price and true value of said merchandise." During this same time, the defendants gave CBP invoices that fraudulently undervalued the imports.
The executive defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy to enter goods into the U.S. by means of false or fraudulent statements. The companies face a $500,000 fine, "or twice the gain derived from the offense, or twice the loss caused by the offense."