On August 5, 2011, the Justice Department announced that Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez, former executives of Terra Telecommunications Corp., have been convicted for their roles in a scheme to pay bribes to Haitian government officials at a state-owned telecommunications company, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

On August 1, 2011, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced that Atsushi Yamagami, a Japanese national, has pleaded guilty to illegally smuggling into the U.S. a shipment of 55 live turtles and tortoises that were concealed in snack food boxes discovered in a suitcase at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The turtles and tortoises comprised of 42 species, all protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international treaty that protects species being threatened by international trade. Species protected under CITES can be legally traded only if the exporting country issues a permit. Another Japanese national, Norihide Ushirozako, also pleaded guilty for carrying the reptiles discovered at LAX in return for payment from Yamagami.

An importer had sought a scope ruling from the International Trade Administration to determine whether scaffolding tube kits would be excluded from the scope of the AD order on circular welded carbon quality steel pipe from China, under the order’s exclusion for “finished scaffolding,” but the ITA concluded the kits do not qualify for the exclusion. On remand from the Court of International Trade, the ITA again concluded that Constantine Polites’ scaffolding tubes fail to meet the definition of “finished scaffolding” in the order’s exclusion because the kits require the addition of other components after importation, before they can be used as scaffolding. The CIT upheld the agency’s determination that Polites’ kits must therefore be included in the scope of the order. (Slip Op. 11-91, dated 07/28/11)

In its January 1 - June 30, 2009 investigation of narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge from China, the International Trade Administration assigned to Yangzhou Bestpak Gifts & Crafts Co., Ltd. a separate AD duty rate that was based on the average of the rates calculated for the two largest volume exporters, one of whom got 0% while the other, which did not cooperate, got a rate of 247.65%. The Court of International Trade confirmed that the ITA was authorized to calculate the rate for non-reviewed companies in this way, but found the agency then failed to show that the resulting 123.83% separate rate reasonably reflected Bestpak’s “potential dumping margin.” The Court ruled the ITA must relate the assigned rate to the firm’s commercial activity, for example, by providing information suggesting that Bestpak dumps its sales at such levels, and remanded the issue to the agency to explain or revise the rate for Bestpak. (Slip Op. 11-90, dated 07/26/11)

Two Japanese producers challenged the redetermination results of a Court of International Trade remand in the sixteenth AD administrative review of ball bearings and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, for the period May, 2004 through April 2005. As it had in the final review results, the International Trade Administration used zeroing (excluding non-dumped price differences in the weighted average dumping margin calculation). The CIT ordered the agency to reconsider that decision and to revisit as well its rejection of one respondent’s proposal to include additional bearing design types in the model match. (Slip Op. 11-92, dated 07/29/11)

On July 29, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that Cem Kiyak, a former Sacramento retailer, is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court following his arrest on charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods. Kiyak operated three stores or kiosks at the Westfield Downtown Mall in Sacramento. He sold jewelry, apparel, accessories, and other goods to which counterfeit marks had been applied, including labels for Chanel, Juicy Couture, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Armani, and other brand name designers and manufacturers. If convicted, Kiyak faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $5 million fine.

On August 1, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that a husband and wife, Yuri and Anneri Izurieta, and their company, Naver Trading Corp., were sentenced for conspiring to smuggle adulterated cheese into the U.S. Naver Trading is a licensed importer engaged in the importation and sale of dairy products; however, the defendants were not authorized to sell and distribute the dairy products. The defendants allegedly knew that their dairy products were contaminated with harmful bacteria, but nonetheless, failed to return the merchandise for destruction as required and, on some occasions, even sold and distributed their dairy products. Anneri was sentenced to 30 months in prison, Yuri to 27 months, and Naver Trading to two years probation.

On July 28, 2011, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York announced that Chigbo Peter Umeh was sentenced to prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S. Umeh was a broker who facilitated the shipment of multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America to West Africa, where it would then be transported to Europe or elsewhere within Africa. He attempted to bribe high-level officials within the Liberian Government in order to protect shipments of cocaine and to use the country as a trans-shipment point for his drug distribution operations.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced that on July 29, 2011 Brendan Clery, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 criminal fine and forfeit illegal proceeds in the amount of $935,240 for knowingly importing an ozone-depleting substance regulated by EPA under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

On July 28, 2011, the Justice Department announced that Caterpillar Inc., has agreed to pay a $2.55 million civil penalty to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations for shipping more than 590,000 highway and non-road engines without the correct emissions controls. Caterpillar also allegedly failed to comply with emission control reporting and engine-labeling requirements. Among other things, the consent decree requires Caterpillar to continue its recall of non-compliant engines to install correct emissions controls. The state of California is also settling its claims for violations arising from the sale in California of the improperly configured engines, and will receive $510,000 of the civil penalty.