The Justice Department is announcing that the former president of Terra Telecommunications Corp. was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a scheme to pay bribes to Haitian government officials at Telecommunications D’Haiti S.A.M. (Haiti Telecom), a state-owned telecommunications company. The former executive vice president of Terra was also sentenced to 84 months in prison for his role in the bribery scheme. According to DOJ, this sentence -- the longest sentence ever imposed in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) case -- is a stark reminder to executives that bribing government officials to secure business advantages is a serious crime with serious consequences.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a video regarding the work that lead to the conviction of a Tijuana business man who was sentenced to 70 months in prison and a $7 million fine for his illegal transshipment scheme involving the importation of wire hangers into the U.S. from China that were subject to antidumping duty, then shipping the hangers in bond to Mexico, marking them as made in Mexico, and then importing them back into the U.S. and claiming NAFTA duty benefits.

Furniture Brands International, Inc. filed questionnaire responses for the International Trade Commission in 2005 opposing the issuance of an AD duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China, but later sought a share of AD duties resulting from the order, under the Byrd Amendment (aka the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (CDSOA).

Chinese producer Hebei Foreign Trade and Advertising Corporation contested the final results of the International Trade Administration’s first AD administrative review of certain activated carbon from China, for the period October 11, 2006, through March 31, 2008. Finding that Hebei Foreign had failed to qualify for separate rate status because a sales agent, rather than a direct employee, had signed the separate rate questionnaire certifications, the ITA assigned the company the China-wide rate of 228.11%.

The Justice Department has announced that Gilberto Baez-Garcia has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of more than $3.6 million. Baez was also sentenced to five years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $3,614,594 in restitution and $3,614,977 in forfeiture. According to court documents, Baez admitted that he and another El Paso exporter created false documents so Baez could obtain a fraudulent Ex-Im Bank loan and assisted others to obtain fraudulent Ex-Im loans. They stole the loan proceeds by transferring funds to Mexico and elsewhere. As a result, the loans went into default and caused the Ex-Im Bank to pay claims losses to the lending banks in the amount of $3,614,594.

SKF USA Inc. and its overseas affiliates successfully contested the final results of the May 2007- April 2008 antidumping duty administrative review of ball bearings and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK, challenging the International Trade Administration’s use of zeroing (excluding all non-dumped sales transactions) in margin calculations and its “15-day rule” for issuing liquidation instructions following final determinations.

The International Trade Administration assigned an adverse facts available (AFA) rate and denied separate rate status to a Chinese producer/exporter (Foshan Shunde Yongjian Housewares & Hardware Co., Ltd.) in the August 2007 - July 2008 antidumping duty administrative review of floor-standing metal-top ironing tables and certain parts thereof from China. (Without separate rate status, the company would be subject to the China-wide rate, usually higher than a separately calculated rate).

Domestic manufacturer Nucor Fastener Division challenged the negative preliminary injury determination by the International Trade Commission in its January 2006 - June 2009 AD and CV duty investigations of certain standard steel fasteners (CSSF) from China and Taiwan, and the Court of International Trade remanded the determination to the agency. The court noted that the ITC had concluded that “there is no reasonable indication that an industry in the United States is materially injured or threatened…by reason of imports” of CSSF from China and Taiwan despite reports of lost revenues from five out of six U.S. producers surveyed. The court particularly faulted the ITC’s reliance on “manifestly incomplete import data” as “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion,” noting that the agency’s statement that its limited import volume data were comprehensive was “a complete failure to consider an important aspect of the problem.” (Slip Op. 11-104, dated August 11, 2011, public version posted subsequently)

A Taiwanese producer/exporter challenged the International Trade Administration’s use of invoice date to define the dates of its U.S. sales in the May 2008 - April 2009 AD administrative review of certain circular welded steel pipes and tubes from Taiwan. Yieh Phui Enterprise Co. argued that few of its terms of sale changed after contract date and that in other, similar cases, the ITA used a date other than invoice date. However, the Court of International Trade agreed with the ITA’s “detailed, well-reasoned response” to each of Yieh Phui’s arguments, noting in particular that the agency observed frequent sales terms changes between contract date and invoice date. Accordingly, the court upheld the agency’s use of its standard sale-dating practice for Yieh Phui. (Slip Op. 11-107, dated August 24, 2011, public version posted subsequently)

The Supreme Court has stated that it will hear a case involving Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Ltd., and Shell Transport and Trading Company PLC. The case involves whether corporations are immune from tort liability under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS, 28 USC 1350) for violations of nations' laws, such as for torture, extrajudicial executions or genocide; or if corporations may be sued in the same manner as any other private party defendant under the ATS for such egregious violations.