In a case challenging the previously suspended AD duty investigation of honey from China (carried out during the period January 1, 2000 through June 30, 2000) the International Trade Administration made a “critical circumstances”¹ determination, reversed it on a remand from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, then, following additional remands from the Court of International Trade, revived the critical circumstance finding.

Following earlier remands in the July 2004 - June 2005 AD administrative review of certain pasta from Italy, the Court of International Trade ordered the International Trade Administration to redo its calculation of the constructed value (equivalent to home market value) of pasta exported from Italy by Atar S.R.L. In this instance the CIT found the agency erred by excluding from the average profit calculation four Italian pasta producers that incurred losses during the period.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that Robert E. Fairman, of Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit professional sports apparel and accessory items. ICE investigations revealed he was in possession of over 2,200 counterfeit sports apparel and accessory items valued at more than $500,000 based upon the manufacturer's suggested retail price. If convicted, Fairman faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a three year period of supervised release and a $2 million fine.

The Justice Department has announced that Bridgestone Corporation has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $28 million criminal fine for its role in conspiracies to make corrupt payments to foreign government officials in Latin America related to the sale of marine hose and other industrial products, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other charges.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that a Los Angeles man, Sok Hun Jin, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for trafficking in counterfeit goods, for selling thousands of counterfeit, Chinese-made Ab Circle Pro machines that he illegally imported into the U.S. In his guilty plea earlier in 2011, Jin admitted he arranged for separate packages with fake instructional DVDs, manuals, and stickers to be shipped from China. He was ordered to pay a $6,000 fine and $60,000 in restitution to the manufacturer of legitimate Ab Circle Pro machines.

The Justice Department has announced that a second California aftermarket auto lights distributor, Maxzone Vehicle Lighting Corp., has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $43 million criminal fine for participating in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of aftermarket auto lights.

The Justice Department has announced that a Virginia woman, Chun-Yu Zhao, was sentenced to 60 months in prison, ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution and a $17,500 fine. for leading a conspiracy to import and to sell counterfeit Cisco-branded computer networking equipment, and other charges. Zhao and her family members and other co-conspirators in China agreed to lie on declaration forms and to sell shipments of counterfeit Cisco-branded computer networking equipment and used counterfeit labels and packaging to mislead consumers into believing that they were purchasing genuine Cisco products.

The Justice Department has announced that Uniteam Marine Shipping GmbH, a German corporation, was sentenced to pay an $800,000 criminal penalty, a $200,000 payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and was placed on three years of supervised probation, for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and making false statements to the Coast Guard. Investigations revealed that from January until May 2010, the crew on a Uniteam vessel manipulated the oil water separator so that it failed to function properly and allowed the illegal discharge of oily bilge wastes directly into the ocean.

The Justice Department has announced that Jorge Granados, a former Chief Executive Officer of Florida-based telecommunications company Latin Node Inc., was sentenced to serve 46 months in prison for paying bribes to former government officials in Honduras, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The Court of International Trade has ruled¹, among other things, that U.S. Customs and Border Protection's failure to provide a surety notice of suspension of liquidation as required by 19 USC 1504(c), does not invalidate an otherwise valid suspension. The CIT also determined that the Government's claims for two entries of crawfish tail meat from China were time-barred as they were deemed liquidated six months after the International Trade Administration published a Notice of Rescission in the Federal Register, which was more than six years before the Government commenced court action.