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Freight Forwarder Company to Plead Guilty to Price-Fixing Scheme
September 19, 2019 |Penalties and Courts

Dip Shipping Company, a New Orleans-based freight forwarder, agreed to plead guilty to antitrust violation allegations as part of a plea agreement, the Department of Justice said in a Sept. 17 news release. "Dip Shipping is the first company to be charged and to agree to plead guilty in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation in the freight forwarding industry," the DOJ said. The company will pay a criminal fine of about $488,000. Some company executives had already pleaded guilty to the price fixing after being charged last year (see 1807050035), the DOJ said. Roberto Dip and Jason Handal were sentenced to prison terms in June.

CIT Declines to Reverse Liquidation, Says Entry Wasn't Covered by Injunction Request
September 17, 2019 |Penalties and Courts

The Court of International Trade on Sept. 13 denied a Chinese company’s request to reverse CBP’s liquidation of its diamond sawblades from China, allegedly in violation of a court-ordered injunction. Zhejiang Wanli Tools Group Co., Ltd. is a participant in the underlying litigation over sawblades duties, and is one of eight companies named on an injunction stopping liquidation while the litigation proceeds. But that injunction covers only merchandise exported by Wanli and the other seven companies, even though the form to request injunctions gives the option of listing a company as a producer or a producer and exporter. CBP had found Wanli had manufactured the sawblades but not exported them, and liquidated them at an AD rate of 82.05%. The trade court agreed, finding the evidence showed Wanli did not export the sawblades, and that Wanli could have requested to also be listed as a producer on the injunction but had not done so.

Topics:Customs duty, Court of International Trade
Italian Textile Company, US Subsidiary Settle Whistleblower Suit Alleging Sham Intermediary Sales
September 12, 2019 |Penalties and Courts

An Italian textile manufacturer and its U.S. subsidiary will pay $650,000 to settle allegations in a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit that it artificially used “sham intermediary ‘sales’” to underpay duties, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a Sept. 12 press release. Miroglio Textile declared on customs documentation that it sold fabric to Miroglio USA at arbitrarily discounted prices, when it was actually selling it directly to consumers at higher prices than it declared.

FWS Doesn't Have to Release Importer and Exporter Names In Response to FOIA Requests, DC Circuit Says
August 21, 2019 |Penalties and Courts

The Fish and Wildlife Service may withhold the names of U.S. and foreign importers and exporters listed on wildlife import and export declarations from Freedom of Information Act requests, the District of Columbia U.S. District Court said in an Aug. 15 decision. Humane Society International had filed the FOIA request at issue, seeking import and export records from the FWS Law Enforcement Management Information System that the agency had pulled from importers’ and exporters’ Form 3-177s. FWS provided some of the information, but redacted importer and exporter names and declared values, so the Humane Society filed suit. The district court declined to rule on whether withholding declared values was justified, citing shifting precedent that had overtaken legal briefs filed in the case. But it found FWS correctly cited FOIA exemptions protecting records compiled for law enforcement purposes and information that could be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy when it denied the FOIA requests with respect to importer and exporter names.