The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington announced on February 14, 2011, that James Armstrong, a retired dentist, and his son, Gregory Armstrong, were sentenced for selling and dispensing counterfeit drugs with the intent to mislead or defraud. According to the records filed in the case, on April 9, 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Los Angeles intercepted a package that had been sent from China addressed to a mail box in Washington, containing 2,544 pills of counterfeit erectile dysfunction drug Viagra® and 260 pills of Cialis®. Over the course of a year, 22 packages arrived at the box from China and India. James Armstrong was sentenced to a $30,000 fine and one year of supervised release. His son was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, two years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine.

On February 9, 2011, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announced that Mark Hughes was sentenced to 46 months of imprisonment on multiple charges involving the illegal importation and sale of counterfeit and misbranded Viagra® and Cialis®, and to pay restitution. According the facts filed with the court, for about three years prior to December 2009, Hughes began ordering large quantities of prescription and pharmaceutical drugs from sources in India and China without prescriptions for resale. Hughes is not licensed or authorized to sell and distribute prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals.

The Justice Department has announced that Flavio Ricotti, a former executive of California-based valve company, Control Components Inc. (CCI), has pleaded guilty for his participation in a conspiracy to secure contracts by paying bribes to officials of a foreign state-owned oil company as well as officers and employees of foreign and domestic private companies, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Travel Act.

The Department of Justice reports that Dirk Lee Robinson was sentenced to 33 months in prison for selling a variety of counterfeit goods, including goods bearing the marks of clothing and shoe companies such as Nike, Chanel, Coach, Ed Hardy, LaCoste, Polo Ralph Lauren, Timberland and True Religion. Robinson sold the goods and merchandise though a retail sales business called “Jeans and Things” at his home in St. Louis, which he owned and operated. Robinson was also ordered to forfeit almost $30,000 in cash and a variety of personal property used in connection with the offense.

The International Trade Administration originally proposed a China-wide “adverse facts” antidumping duty rate of 45.25% for imports of heavy forged hand tools from producer/exporter Shandong Machinery Import & Export Company, for the review period of February 2005 through January 2006, arguing that the rate must be higher than the prior rate of 34.56% in order to ensure cooperation. In the first remand, the Court of International Trade found the agency had failed to corroborate the 45.25% rate and ordered the agency to use a “different rate.” However, in the second remand, the court ruled out as “punitive” a revised rate of 109.16%, which was based on a single sale in the preceding review. The CIT then instructed the agency to revert to the 45.25% rate, but with corroboration, and the court has now accepted this result. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 08/18/10 news, 10081817, for BP summary of the CIT’s second remand.) (Slip Op. 11-47, dated 04/26/11)

On April 26, 2011, the Justice Department announced that two former executives of Paris-based Société Air France were indicted for participating in a conspiracy to fix and coordinate surcharges on air cargo shipments to and from the U.S. and on air cargo service rates in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In response to a Court of International Trade remand on the final results of the antidumping duty investigation of certain steel threaded rod from China, the International Trade Administration reconsidered the exclusion of financial data for an Indian pre-stressed concrete wire products manufacturer from the normal value calculation, conceding that the Indian firm did make “comparable merchandise.” With the resulting altered normal value, the dumping margin declined from 55.16% to 47.37% for Chinese producer/exporters Jiaxing Brother Fastener Co., Ltd, a.k.a. Brother Standard Parts Co., Ltd., IFI & Morgan Ltd., and RMB Fasteners Ltd. (Slip Op. 11-44, dated 04/21/11)

In remand results for the antidumping duty administrative review of certain cased pencils from China for the period of December 1, 2006 through November 30, 2007, the ITA revised its labor rate value for Chinese pencil manufacturers, using a more narrowly defined set of market economy countries at levels of economic development more comparable to that of China. Producer/exporter Shandong Rongxin Import & Export Co., Ltd. then argued that the ITA should use only a single country for wage rates, as it does for other factors of production, but the Court of International Trade ruled the complaint “groundless,” since using multiple countries for wage rates is specifically required by the agency’s regulations. However, the CIT found the ITA’s exclusion of detailed, relevant wage rate data for Indian wood products makers to be inconsistent and unjustified, and further dismissed as “absurd” the ITA’s decision to identify as “significant producers” a number of small countries with only nominal exports of pencils, such as the Maldives, with $67 of exports. The court accordingly remanded these aspects of the determination to the ITA. (Slip Op. 11-45, dated 04/21/11)

Through four successive remand determinations on the second sunset review of antidumping duty orders on ball bearings from France, Germany, Italy and Japan, the International Trade Commission maintained that imports of ball bearings would injure domestic injury in the absence of the AD order. But after the Court of International Trade directed the ITC to “point to particular data in the record and rationally connect it to the underlying determinations,” the agency reversed its position, concluding that imports “are not likely to have a significant impact on the industry upon revocation” of the order. The CIT upheld this revised determination and declined to adjudicate other issues, noting that the government plans to appeal the new ruling upholding revocation. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 01/03/11 news, 11010316, for BP summary of the court’s preceding remand instructions to the ITC.) (Slip Op. 11-43, dated 04/20/11)

On April 21, 2011, Attorney General Holder announced the formation of the Oil and Gas Fraud Working Group which will monitor oil and gas markets for potential violations of criminal or civil laws. The Working Group will explore whether there is any evidence of manipulation of oil and gas prices, collusion, fraud, or misrepresentations at the retail or wholesale levels that violate state or federal laws and harm consumers or the federal government.