A CBP agricultural specialist is facing federal charges of falsifying ship inspection documents, according to an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on June 21. Carl James is said to have "falsified" a PPQ Form 228 in 2015 and two AI-288s in 2017, indicating that he inspected the ships even though he had not, the indictment said. A CBP spokesman said James is no longer employed by the agency.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 18-24:

The American Institute for International Steel will announce on June 27 "the launch of a legal challenge that seeks to remedy a situation that is bad for the American economy and American workers alike," the group said in a June 26 news release. AIIS said "President Trump’s Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum have already created significant collateral damage for U.S. industries." The group called the coming legal action a "critically important, first-of-its-kind initiative."

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 11-17:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 15 ruled against a challenge to Section 201 safeguard duties on solar cells, affirming a recent Court of International Trade decision not to put the duties on hold by way of an injunction. Like CIT did in a “careful and thorough opinion” issued in March (see 1803060027), the Federal Circuit found Silfab, a U.S. importer, and two Canadian exporters, Heliene and Canadian Solar, are not likely to succeed in their challenge because President Donald Trump acted within his authority when he issued the Section 201 safeguards. Among other things, the appeals court found that disagreement at the International Trade Commission and the lack of a unified recommendation on remedy doesn’t mean Trump couldn’t set the tariffs anyway, because the ITC had already found injury, CAFC said. The president also had the authority to set duties on Canada despite the lack of an ITC recommendation to do so, CAFC said.

Acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio pointed to the whistleblower provisions in the False Claims Act as an important method for enforcing customs laws. The Justice Department is using the FCA "to prevent companies from flouting our customs laws," he said in a June 14 speech at an American Bar Association event on qui tam enforcement. "Over the last five years, the Department has recovered more than $100 million in settlements involving the evasion or underpayment of import duties for a wide variety of merchandise." Panuccio said DOJ will also use the FCA "against any entities involved in the opioid distribution chain who engage in the abuse and illegal diversion of opioids -- from pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, to pharmacies, to pain management clinics and physicians."

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 4-10:

A New York customs broker filed a guilty plea in connection with "a scheme to evade federal excise tax on imported cigars," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a news release. Alberto Rodriguez, of Briarwood, New York, allegedly used false entry summaries to misrepresent "among other things, the quantities of large cigars imported into the United States and the Federal tobacco excise tax due for those importations," the Department of Justice said. "In addition to consistently underreporting and evading the Federal tobacco excise tax, Rodriguez transmitted false and fraudulent documents to CBP using the United States Postal Service mail," DOJ said.

It's not clear that the president's authorities under Section 232 allow for the elimination of drawback, law firm Neville Peterson said in a blog post. President Donald Trump said in April that drawback would not be allowed for entries subject to the Section 232 tariffs (see 1804300064). "While this is a close question, the President’s power under Section 232 is limited to 'adjust[ing] imports,'” the law firm said. "It seems unlikely that the President can take action respecting exports, the activity which generally triggers claims for duty drawback."

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 28 - June 3: