The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida has announced that an indictment was unsealed as a result of the arrest of Elias Garcia and Maria Plancarte for crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. to illegally sell jaguar skins. According to the indictment, Garcia and Plancarte offered to sell jaguar skins to potential customers in person in Texas and by electronic means elsewhere. Additionally, the defendants made repeated road trips to South Florida, carrying jaguar skins to sell to Florida customers.
According to press sources, an analysis of online traffic from Twitter and Facebook after two Gibson Guitar factories were raided by the Justice Department due to alleged violations of the Lacey Act found that 62% of traffic was against the raids. The other 18% of such traffic was neutral with regard to the raids (such as reporting), and 20% provided jokes. The Justice Department has suggested that Gibson's use of wood from India which is not finished by Indian workers is illegal due to the Department's interpretation of an Indian law. Gibson states it has complied with foreign laws and believes it is innocent of any wrong doing. This was the second time federal agents have raided Gibson facilities.
On August 31, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that 13 suspects have been arrested for their alleged role in an international car theft scheme in which stolen luxury vehicles from the U.S. were transshipped through Canada to Iraq. The vehicles were allegedly rented from national rental car chains in Michigan and Ohio, which were then driven into Canada, where police reports were filed claiming that the vehicles had been either carjacked or stolen in the Detroit-area. Five of the vehicles were allegedly intercepted on shipping containers at the Port of Montreal by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Export documents accompanying these vehicles stated that their export agent was Discount Auto Sales, a company owned by one of the suspects.
In the February ’08 - January ’09 AD administrative review of certain frozen warmwater shrimp from China, the International Trade Administration chose respondents based on the import volumes reported in Customs and Border Protection’s Form 7501. The ITA refused to consider prior review period evidence from three federal agencies, including the ITA itself, showing that import volumes reported on Form 7501 were inaccurate. The Court of International Trade, noting that the agency in other instances readily uses information carried over from prior reviews, such as for company affiliations, faulted the agency for inconsistency, and ordered it to reconsider its use of the Form 7501 volume data, and possibly modify its respondent selection.
On August 30, 2011, the Justice Department announced that Sabry Lee Inc., a California aftermarket auto lights distributor for a Taiwan producer, has agreed to plead guilty for its participation in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of aftermarket auto lights.
Canada Border Services Agency announced that Vancouver resident Colin Li Hsin Cheng has received an 18 month conditional sentence in the British Columbia Supreme Court after pleading guilty to four criminal customs-related charges stemming from cigarette smuggling and fraudulently posing as a customs broker. During the sentencing on August 18, 2011, Mr. Cheng was also ordered to pay $10,714.74 in restitution to his fraud victims.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has decided to vacate the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s final rule requiring motor carriers that are substantially non-compliant with the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations to install electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs) to monitor their compliance. This case was brought before the Court by three commercial truck drivers and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) who petitioned for review of the final rule.
On August 25, 2011, Gibson Guitar Corp. issued a press release to announce that the Justice Department has raided and temporarily shut down two Gibson facilities in the Department's enforcement of the Lacey Act Amendments. According to Gibson, the Justice Department has suggested that Gibson's use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal.
On August 26, 2011, the Justice Department announced that Roger Charles Day Jr. was found guilty of leading an international conspiracy to sell more than $4.4 million in nonconforming and defective parts to the Department of Defense (DoD) and of smuggling gold out of the U.S. into Mexico.
On August 25, 2011, the Treasury Department announced that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A of New York has agreed to remit $88,300,000 to settle potential civil liability for apparent violations of several sanctions regulations over a six year period.