The Justice Department has announced that Nadeem Akhtar, a Pakistani national and lawful permanent resident of the U.S., was sentenced to 37 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release for conspiring to commit export violations and to defraud the U.S. in connection with a scheme to illegally export nuclear-related materials.

On January 6, 2012, the Justice Department announced that three Philippine nationals have been arrested on charges of importing defense articles without a license, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA). According to the complaint, this case is part of an FBI investigation of transnational Asian organized crime groups involved in the illicit trafficking of firearms.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that Thomas Jefferson and James Robinson have pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess stolen goods from a foreign shipment, in connection with the theft of aluminum, nickel and other metal that had been imported through the Port of Baltimore. Another individual, Alan Verschleisser, also pleaded guilty to the same charge in December 2011. The defendants' illegal scheme caused $2,611,314 in losses.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has announced that FedEx Express has agreed to pay a $370,000 civil penalty to settle allegations that it committed six violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) relating to FedEx’s provision of freight forwarding services to exporters for unlicensed exports.

Domestic ball bearings producer New Hampshire Ball Bearing, Inc. sought to be awarded a share of AD duties as an “affected domestic party” for ball bearings imported from Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, and the U.K, under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, (CDSOA or Byrd Amendment). However, the Court of International Trade dismissed its complaint as the company, 12 years prior to CDSOA’s enactment, had declined to indicate its support for the AD petition in its response to ITC questionnaires.

In this case, U.S. Customs and Border Protection erroneously liquidated in 2008 a 2004 entry of wooden bedroom furniture from China made by Epoch Design LLC at the China-wide rate of 198.08% rather than the firm’s calculated rate of 6.65%. Epoch, however, failed to file a protest within 90 days¹ of liquidation, then failed to pay all liquidated duties prior to initiating a suit (it paid the duties four months after initiating its suit). For both reasons, the Court of International Trade concluded that Epoch’s complaint “must be dismissed.”

On January 3, 2012, the Justice Department announced that Maersk Line Limited has agreed to pay the government $31.9 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the U.S. in connection with overcharging for transporting cargo in shipping containers for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. This lawsuit was filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.

The Justice Department has announced that Magyar Telekom Plc., a Hungarian telecommunications company, and its parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG, have agreed to pay a combined $63.9 million criminal penalty to resolve a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation. The investigation concerned activities by Magyar Telekom and its subsidiaries in Macedonia and Montenegro to bribe government officials in those countries.

The Court of International Trade has ruled to dismiss a case in which C.B. Imports Transamerica Corp. sought a refund of a cash deposit it made on an entry of automotive safety glass from China that was subject to an antidumping duty order (A-570-867) at the time of entry. The CIT dismissed the case as it found C.B. Imports' refund claim was made after the statutory two-year limit and thus was time-barred.

Thai shrimp producer/exporters appealed the decision of the Court of International Trade upholding the refusal of the International Trade Administration to grant an offset for interest income on long-term financial assets when calculating dumping margins, in the February 2007 - January 2008 AD administrative review of certain frozen warm water shrimp from Brazil, Ecuador, India, and Thailand. The Thai producers argued that the long-term financial assets on which they earned interest income was required to be held as collateral for credit lines used for day-to-day operating funds, and the ITA should therefore apply it as an offset to interest expense in the overhead expense ratio that the ITA calculates as a component of normal value (thereby reducing normal value and dumping margins).